Jai Baba Folks, and a Happy New Year
to you all!
very time I go to Meherabad I mean
to go check out the school I have been
hearing about—one that is run under the
auspices of the Trust, the Avatar Meher
Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust to
give it its proper name. Well last January I
did—and what an eye opener it was! Read
about it in our cover article. We would like
to run more stories like this. It reminds me
somewhat ofthe roadside signs you see when
the roads are under construction: “your tax
dollars at work”. Well in these pages I would
like to show you your tax deductible dona
tions at work. When you donate to the Trust
the money is spent in many different ways—
completing the Archive building, (close by
the Samadhi), breaking ground on a new
smaller Archive building at Meherazad close
by the house where He lived, the Veterinary
clinics for the neighboring farmers, hospitals
and health clinics—all ofwhich are open and
free to the general public regardless of race,
color, creed or religion.
Created in 1969 under Meher Baba’s
direction, the Trust had at its founding two
purposes: to provide for certain named dis
ciples of Meher Baba’s and to ftilfil certain
charitable objects. Today the first fttnction is
discharged under”Avatar Meher BabaTrust,
Firstly” and is funded by donations directed
through your local Trustwalla. The second
is discharged under the “Avatar Meher
Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust”,
which has eight U.S. grantor organizations
(including the Los Angeles Center) which
are permitted to direct donations on a taxdeductible basis to its Development Plan.
As required by federal law these organiza
tions retain discretion and control over such
donations, but ifyou have a specific project
wish, this may be stated.
Meher Baba himself founded and
directed the Hazrat Babajan School and
the Meher Ashram at Meherabad during
1927 and 1928, and in the Trust Deed He
named schools for the benefit of the public
among its charitable objects. Meher English
School has been in operation since 1986,
has grown to encompass all 10 standards of
the pre-college curriculum, and is recently
benefiting from a new computer fadiit sci
ence laboratory and bus provided under the
Trust’s Development Plan.
The school is situated on Trust property,
a 10 minute walkwest ofthe Pilgrim Center.

E

3

jJ: E

Do go and see it next time you are over there.
I’m sure you will be moved to donate time,
service or money! All are needed.
Such was the outpouring oflove and re
membrances of our dearly departed Aloba
we are continuing them in this issue. If you
missed the last one, back issues are always
available for $3 plus postage. Those of you
who knew Aloba, know how fond he was of
prophesying “Doomsday”, Baba’s imminent
Manifestation, and events along those lines.
We have two such stories not from Aloba,
but members ofour community The vision
J im Auster feels Baba gave him was sent to
Aloba to read many years ago. You will read
Aloba’s letter to Jim in a joyful affirmation
ofail the visionjim was given. Some of you
may think it is all poppycock, others may
take it all in and agree wholeheartedly; all
I know is that if the bombs start falling—I
will immediately turn and face the East
with great expectations! You will read ho
in 1978, while sleeping in the cabin where
Ted and Janet Judson now live in Lower
Meherabad, Ann Smith had a vivid dream
which she later told to Mehera, who said it
was an important dream and should be told
to as many Baba lovers as possible.
—

is the time in which
we enclose a donation envelope
with your magazine and
request your help.
21t:tnuctry

We hear from so many of you how you
love the LampPost and how it seems to get
better with each issue. When someone was
complimenting me on it, I told them that
it is also Cherie, Tom and Pris who slave to
make it the magazine it is, but in Reality it is
Baba who puts it all together. “Well tell Baba
He is learning to be a better Editor with each
magazine!” was the amusing response.
So many of you have sent donations in
throughout the year bless your hearts and a
huge thank you from us all. Since the Los
Angeles Baba Center does not, and can not,
underwrite the magazine, it has to be self
supporting—it is only through your dona
tions that we can continue to publish. The
actual cost ofthe magazine works out to be
about $15 per person per year. Overseas is
much more expensive. To Australia, where
we have the largest overseas subscriber base,
the cost ofpostage alone for the last few issues was $7.20 per magazine. I simply will

not ask them for more than a $20 donation,
as in Australian money that is $40!
We always have so much information to
put in the magazine, you may have noticed
the past few issues have been at 56 pages.
It used to be 44; I try to keep it at 48 sim
ply because of the extra postage required.
Cherie gave me a paraphrase of the Field
of Dreams (movie) whose catchphrase was
“Build it and they will come” to be “Publish
and the donations will come”. I hope so,
because Baba seems to be giving us so much
material here, as long as we have the funds
we will publish.
Many of you have been receiving the
magazine for years, but have never sent
in a donation. That is OK, it is free to all
who desire it and don’t have the funds to
contribute, but I would prefer not to be
sending it to someone who just tosses it in
the trash can along with the junk mail. If
you would like to be taken off the mailing
list—do please let us know. I just received
back the October issue with angry writing
all over it “Cancel!” “I do not want this!”
Three years ago her sister had given her a
gift subscription hoping to interest her. If
you have had the same generous impulse a
few years ago, you might check to make sure
it is still welcomed.
To the rest of you—we say “Thank you
for welcoming us into your homes, for the
stories you submit, and for your financial
support.”
From, Dma Snow
[Errata: In thejuly issue, pg 17 left col. 2ndpara.,
Babac car was stoppedby the motorcade on the way
backfrom Poona to Satara, not on the way to Poona
fivm Satara.]

_

puhbaIin o/11e T*4uaIar iKeJer &z/a Cen/er o/SoulJern Gcz//ornth

features

...
fco
m
e
2
1
e
7:jte
Street £ampJ2ost is dedicated with love to
vatctr JV1eher E13a.ba. Dts primary purpose is to contribute to
4
‘
a sense of community among all 21is lovers by providing a place for
9 2Iis remembrance. All the members of the 73aba family are
sharin
invited to contribute to this feast of .Cove.
) our stories, photos, art work, poetry, letters, articles, and humor are all actively solicited.
We seek expressions of aba’s message ofLove and 7rutlz.

website: www.meherabode.org
email: Bababook@pacbell.net
Deadlines:
for the January issue:
April issue:
J uly issue:
October issue:

November 8th
February 8th
May 8th
August 8th

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT MEHEiBAD

From Bhau at the Trust Office
Our Galin Meherabad
Two Thsty Nuggets From MandaliHall
Bhauc Silence Day 4wakening”
MEMORIES OF AL0BA

Events SurroundingAloba’s Passing
My Last Days withAloba Uncle
Our Memories ofAloba
The Bus Has Gone
A Story ofMan7èstation
Meher Baba on His Manifestation
Whatc to Come: Three Scenarios
NEw CARETAKERS AT MEHER MOUNT

thank you
We extend our heartfelt appreciation to all the individuals and organiz
ations that own the copyrights to the J44eher ‘Ei3aba pictures we have used
throwjltout this issue to bring joy and love to the hearts ofall Love .Street
,i: amJflost readers.

Beloved Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai!
To all dear ones,
our prayers to Beloved Baba are
heard by Him, and He is responding very well.
I am much better, and there is no doubt
I am gradually making good progress. My
health has been improving, day by day, ever
since the time I started considering doctors
as ‘barbers’. Now I am walking without any
support, and I have stopped using a stick.
Three Mothers (Mothers S, B and M) and
Freeman walk along with me, so that if I
fall, they may give some support. So far this
has not happened. Ijust walk. Therefore, no
one should worry about my health. I will
remain alive as long as the Beloved wants
me to remain in this gross world.
It is Beloved Baba’s wish that I remain
happy and cheerful even when I suffer. I
fell down in Myrtle Beach while I was in
bathroom, and that is why I could not go
to the Barn on the last two days. When I
went to LA, though I had intense pain, I.
still entered into a boxing match during the
Sahavas. I knocked Fred Stankus out in no
time, and everyone enjoyed it! Then I went
to England, where many programs had al
ready been arranged. I traveled to Norwich,
to Brighton, and attended many programs
in London, but nobody knew that I had
intense pain. I would stand and embrace
everyone. I was looking happy and cheerfhl,
fiiil ofjoy. If you have any doubts, you can
see the pictures in the October issue of The
Love StreetLampPost. See how I knocked
down Fred Stankus, and how happy I was
in England! It is Beloved Baba’s compassion
that He keeps me happy and cheerftil.
It is a fact that suffering is His blessing,
and those who love Him, they suffer. One
day, they will come to know that suffering
gives more joy than bliss, because suffering
for the Beloved is blessed by the bliss from
Him. And obedience to His wish takes one
to have His blessing to enjoy bliss.
As I have said to various Baba lovers, your
love touched my heart, and I know how you
are thinking about me every day. Physically,

Y

I might not be so good, but internally I am
strong. So you will be happy to know that
the doctors are relaxing their restrictions
about making movements. Therefore, please
don’t worry for me. Your blessings gave me
strength, and how powerfttl you are! Thank
you very much for your precious blessings’.
I went to Meherabad on Friday, 25th
October, to attend the worker’s program
and to distribute sweets and money to each
one in celebration of Divali, the Festival
of Light (which was held on the 4th November). Every year we do this in memory
of our late Chairman, Miss Mani S. Irani
[ Baba’ 5 sister].
And for a Baba couple in England, I
dictated one prayer for the festival:
“May Beloved Avatar Meher Baba bless
you with His love so that you long and long
to light a lamp ofHis love in your heart and
experience Diwali every day in your life.”
On Saturday, 9th November I went to
Meherabad to see a play about the Two
Kings and One Queen (which you have read
about in The Nothing and the Everything).
The Bombay group worked really hard on
the play; they had been practicing four hours
every night for four months. It was a good
play, done very well. The group’s efforts were
much appreciated, and theywere very happy
that I had attended.
Once, after He had asked me to write
a play, Beloved Baba had said that the play
based upon my writings would be staged all
over the world. Yesterday, during the play, I
felt, yes, this will happen. I never thought
that anyone would make a play out of the
writings, but it is now happening. About
the songs also, Baba had said, “So long as
I remain alive, they will not be sung ev
erywhere. But after I die, they will be sung
everywhere.”
When I saw the play yesterday, I felt how
true Baba is. When Beloved Baba was telling
me what would happen, I was thinking that
He was doing it just to encourage me so that
I maywrite. But now I find thatwhat He said
was true and not merely encouragement.
Because I cannot travel by car two days
in a ro the following day, Sunday, 10th

November I was unable to go to Meherazad,
even though I wanted to visit, as usual. Anyway, it is all right. Poor Eruch also suffered
because of these restrictions, so why should
I not suffer? I think it is destined.
I have been to Meherazad twice, for
short periods. Since I did not go there
on Sunday, it was possible for me to do so
on 14th November to attend the Ground
Breaking Program for the Archives Building. I have already started talks at Avatar
Meher Baba Ahmednagar Centre in the
Trust compound.
I also have an itch to go to Dethi, because
the Goldenjubilee ofBeloved Baba’s visit will
be held there. They are arranging a very big
celebration. As you kno this year is also my
own Goldenjubilee ofmeeting Beloved Baba.
But I cannot go to the celebration because of
medical restrictions. When I am allowed to
visit Meherazad and Meherabad only once a
week, how can even I dream ofgoing to Delhi?
Anyway, it is Beloved Baba’s Wish.
The flow of foreign pilgrims here is still
less than usual because the economy of the
USA must have been affected very much by
the September 11th episode.This incident has
affected the economic situation ofall countries,
and our flow ofdonations is also less this year.
The interest rate is going down and down and
the economy oflndlia is not improving! The
economic situation is going from bad to worse
everywhere. I am mostly concerned about the
economy ofthe Trust, as I find that it is going
down and down because the rate ofinterest is
going down and down.
Anyway, it is God’s Divine Will, but not
His Divine Wish. If His Divine Wish is
followed, everything will become smooth. It
appears that this will not happen until Beloved
Baba’s Universal Manifestation. Because He
has been working for the world to make it
aware, so that it will follow His Divine Wish,
Illusion is very angry More and more, Illu
sion is trying its best to show its power. That
is why the world is facing tragedy. But there
will be a great change, no doubt, when His
UniversalManifestation takes place. Beloved
Baba is the only hope for the world. But it
will take time.
Mehernath is well, but he is very busy
with Trust work because he has to share half
ofwhat I was doing previously. Most of the

time, he goes to different offices and deals
with officials. When I was doing this work,
I got so fed up with those officials that once
3udLI Stephens
I decided that I must possess one ghost. If
would
I
give
me
trouble,
the officials were to
shed, and exclaimed, “You eat
2002: Jai Meher
send the ghost to them and the problem
Savages!” Everyone seemed
like
have
begun
to
all!
I
Baba
to
do
decided
But
once
I
would be solved.
like
the idea, and the name
Meherabad
to
diary
from
this
me
come
to
would
who
the
ghosts,
this,
stuck.
the
life
order
share
to
in
Baba
Beloved
after
night
every
practically
2ndAugust: Update on the
we live here with any Baba
dropped His body, stopped coming!
Meher Pilgrim Retreat: After
When I was keeping night watch near loverwho maybe interested.
morning Arti I walked to the
This is going to be very inBaba, I was an obstruction for ghosts ap
MPR
to see what had been
like
my
be
it
will
formal,
dropped
He
Then,
after
Baba.
proaching
past week. Some of
this
done
friend.
to
a
a
letter
writing
me.
I
to
coming
started
body,
they
His
wails
were up to the
brick
the
personal,
this
be
want
to
I
send
could
if
I
good
be
it
would
thought
of the “U”
The
life
here,
ends
floor.
wonderfttl
first
the
It
is
a
roof
of
my
heart.
from
ghosts
The
officials.
the
ghosts
to
those
rooms.
The
make
the
reading
to
used
as
her
will
be
does
best
shape
maya
though
do
would
they
me,
and
not
harass
would
posts.
supported
by
the
joys
were
will
share
frames
up,
I
window
difficult.
job
simplest
not
a
my
decision,
after
work!
But
some
The windows cover most ofthe wall, provid
and the tears.
single ghost came to me! I was then helpThis afternoon I wanted to check out the ing a beautiftil view.
less. The ghosts also left me!
At tea time Bhau gave a talk at the MPC.
At Meherazad, after Beloved Baba progress ofthe new Meher Pilgrim Retreat.
It should be ready in about three more years. One of the questions addressed the rumor
dropped His bod) because He had given
about “The Book” having been found. (“The
me writing work, I would write up until It is two stories and will house 200 pilgrims.
It is huge! There are two “U” shapes for the Book” refers to a book written by Baba but
midnight or one o’clock in the morning.
I was working 17-18 hours a day. When pilgrim rooms. One “U” is for 100 women, given into safekeeping by Him to a person
I would come out of my room, because it and the other for 100 men. On the women’s at that time unknown. Baba said The Book
side, part of the “U” already has the roof on contained further detail on some ofthe matwas summer I would sleep in the veranda
top of the second floor. We all went up on ters addressed in God Speaks.)
between my room and the Blue Bus. One
Bhau said he was in the States when he
the roof. The wind has made the view so
morning, at about 1:00 a.m., I stopped writclear you can see for miles and miles all the received a call about The Book having been
ing and lay down in the bed.
I was still quite awake, and one ghost way around! Off in the distance you can found. What was found, according to Bhau,
see Seclusion Hill at Meherazad! From the was a copy ofThe Book. The copy included
came, well dressed, wearing the clothes of a
could see Baba’s flag flying from the the same writings by Baba found in Mani’s
roofwe
Thieff’
“Thief!
out,
I
cried
soldier.
tower of the Meher Retreat (the building room. [These were published in In Godc
He did not move and remained standing before me. So I got up to beat him! He where the Museum and Library are housed), Hand].
31 August: Today is the one-year annext to the Samadhi. It is a wonderfid feeling
started running, and I was running after him
space.
niversary
of Eruch going to Baba. It was a
vast
open
that
in
then
And
Thieff’
Thief!
out,
“Thief!
calling
heading
was
morning. There was no “official”
I
evening
sweet
very
July:
This
28
disappeared.
he
down to the Savages’ Kitchen for dinner program; however, a couple of the men
Eruch was sleeping in his cabin. He woke
up and came out, saying, “What happened!? when I heard loud Bhajan singing coming Mandali visited Baba’s Samadhi at 10:30
am, and many ofthe Residents and pilgrims
from the Arangaon Village area. Then I
What happened!?”
singing
Bhajan
there to share in the memory Garlands
was
a
were
There
remembered!
ran
he
but
thief
had
come,
I said, “One
Methe
in
to
6:00
PM
were
placed
on Beloved Baba’s Samadhi, and
from
4:00
program
away!”
Baba
old-time
for Eruch’s grave was taken
by
an
headstone
organized
the
Colony,
her
me.
asked
Eruch
“How did he look?”
and placed at the feet of
there.
Samadhi
the
into
lives
Lover
who
wearing
he
was
and
“He was well dressed,
of
many
basket ofred roses was
A
large
Kitchen”,
where
Beloved.
his
“Savages’
I
remember
said.
I
“But
shoes, thick shoes!”
wishing to give
private
is
a
for
anyone
Residents
eat,
available
made
Meherabad
the
was
no
there
and
still
that he was running,
those
paid
by
Baba.
and
food
Beloved
flowers
to
with
staff
kitchen
noise from his shoes.”
Arti was performed. Garlands were put
Eruch laughed and said, “Go to sleep. who eat there. It first came into use as a
it
when
period
1977-79,
Baba’s stretcher in His cabin room, and
the
on
in
lunchroom
Don’t worry”
which
looked
tin
shed
everyone went down to Eruch’s grave.
old
then
an
simply
was
came
ghosts
many
times,
So not once, but
The
cows!
for
used
will soon have a permanent cover,
be
grave
should
The
it
though
as
use
of
make
decided
to
to me. But when I
floor
the
on
it remains a simple mound of
gunny
sacks
for
now
on
but
Residents
sat
then,
And
since
coming.
them, they stopped
the
Padri,
headstone was placed atop
blustery
day
The
new
One
dirt.
while
eating.
don’t
they
them,
have
though I am eager to
Mandali
above
the mound, and many
good-natured
few
bricks
nonetheless
a
fierybut
come!
carewere placed there as
to
be
flowers
assigned
and
Baba
garlands
whom
member
Bhau
Service,
In His Love and
taker at Meherabad, happened by the shed at well. Aloba’s grave, next to Eruch’s, also re
lunchtime. He observed the residents, seated ceived garlands and flowers. Arti was again
on their gunny sacks eating while rain blew performed.
in on them through the open face of the

June

.

::

:••

S

A large hole has been dug next to Aloba’s
grave, which will be divided bybricks for two
more graves. The hole has taken ten days of
digging thus far, and there remain a few
inches of digging before it is the desired six
feet across. When all the work for the future
graves is complete, it will be filled with dirt.
I am always amazed at how much prog
ress is made between my weekly visits to
the new Pilgrim Center. The ends of the
U-shaped building face the Samadhi. The
walls on the right side are all the way up to
the roof on the ground floor. The verandah
walls are aiso half-finished on that side.
The verandah has large round curves like
our current Pilgrim Center. In some of the
rooms, the workers were putting plaster over
the bricks and giving them a whitewash. At
the curved part of the U, the brick wails of
the rooms are also almost half-finished! I
went up to the rooftop to feel the vast openness and gentle touch ofthe wind. Looking
toward Meherazad brings joy because I can
see Seclusion Hill.
This past week there have been two
events at Hostel-D. On the 24th, about 78
student teachers along with the professors
from The Bachelor of Education College
of Kedgaon came to hear about Baba. Mr.
Madhavrao Zilepeiwar, a Staff Resident
here at Meherabad, gave a talk on Baba’s
life. Later everyone went to the Samadhi
for Baba’s darshan before leaving.
On the 29th, around 200 school chil
dren belonging to the Ahmednagar Scout
& Guide District Organization (like the
Boy and Girl Scouts ofAmerica) requested
permission to spend a day here at Mehe
rabad. The ages of the children were 12 to
17. Again Mr. Madhavrao Zilepelwar gave
a talk on Baba in Hostel-D.
14 September: Wednesday, September
4th, is Teachers Day in India. Representa
tives from Ambika Vidyalaya School of
Kedgaon, in the Ahmednagar District, had
written ahead asking permission to come
here on the 4th. The school’s teachers along
with 900 young school children came for the
day. They went to the Samadhi first for dar
shan. The children sat in rows on the ground
with their teachers near them; several at a
time would get up to form the line for their
turn to take darshan. When all had taken
darshan, the children and teachers went to
Hostel-D for programs. Mr. Madhavrao
Zilepelwar, a Resident worker at Hostel-D,
gave a talk on Baba. After the programs the
children had lunch and went home.
Friday the 6th was the occasion ofa spe
cial Indian holiday called Pola, a day to show

respect to bullocks. Bullocks do a lot ofwork
here: they plow fields, and pull carts loaded
with anything and everything. On the 6th,
they are given the day offfrom all work. They
are washed, and their bodies are painted in
designs of different colors. Often they are
covered with a certain blanket that can be
purchased in the bazaar, and their horns are
given special decorations and designs. Many
bells are put around their necks and anywhere else their owners take a fancy to put
them
and then the bullocks are paraded
from home to home,
At Meherabad we have our own bullocks
because we have a farm. Our bullocks get
something extra: they are taken up the path
to the Samadhi! They are walked around the
Samadhi and then lined up at the outside
of the railing adjacent to it. They then have
Kumkum (a red powder used to decorate the
forehead ofpeople during special occasions)
put on their heads, and are given food of
some type. (This year it was chapattis.) The
bullocks, so decorated, are quite a lovely
sight to see.
21-27 September: In the afternoon
there was a guided tour of the new Manzil
e-MeherArchive building at 4:30 pm for the
Residents. Starting October 1st, the building
will be undergoing a year of environmental
monitoring and will not be easily accessible,
except for people going in forwork activities.
It is so impressive to see the building with
the lights and fixtures all working. There is
a sophisticated security system and wiring
for an extensive computer system. Work
areas for film, document scanning, etc., are
all set up. I am just amazed at how much
knowledge and expertise have been acquired
here in a few years.
I was on my way up the hill to spend time
in the Samadhi when I saw activity at Eruch’s
gravesite. I went over and observed that a
permanent cover was being made on Entch’s
grave. I asked those making the structure if
they were also going to do Aloba’s at the same
time. No, they said:They always wait atleast a
year before a permanent cover is made.
The main road in front ofMeherabad is
being widened 2 1/2 feet on each side. The
work crews are busy smashing stones and
making the area ready for the big machines
to finish the job.
11 October:The Baba Lovers from Nasik
began a holy pilgrimage yesterday, the 10th,
and will arrive here on the 16th afternoon,
for the anniversary ofthe New Life. In this
Padyatra,[see cover story January 2000
LSLP] provisions will be made for the food.
A truckwill carry the food and have the meal
--

--

readywhen the pilgrims arrive at their stopping place. This is for all the meals of each
day. It feeds the heart with great joy to see
Beloved Baba ‘5 photo, in a small replica of
His Samadhi, on a cart being pushed by His
lovers at the front oftheir procession. All are
carrying His beautiftil flag and chanting His
name! What a sight for the heart!
16-25 October:Wednesday the 16th was
the anniversary of the New Life. We had
wonderfiul monsoon rains in the morning.
A group of Baba Lovers from Nasik, who
were on their Padyatra, were due to arrive
here in the late afternoon, having left Nasik
on the 10th. I knew they must be very tired
by now: yet, how happy because they were
so near!
I rode in a jeep down the road about a
mile to meet them.We all got out of the jeep
and cheered as they passed us, then we joined
in the procession. In the front were mostly
young adults, chanting Baba’s name and
dancing around. Behind them came the cart
with Beloved Baba’s beautiful photo, framed
with gold streamers and flowers. The women
followed the cart, then more men. Some of
the pilgrims were barefoot; some looked as
if they were continuing by sheer willpower;
all looked happy!
When they reached the Dhuni area, the
young adults began dancing around in a
circle and singing. It was a joy to see, and
the atmosphere was charged with a feeling
of victory!
Then it was time to take the path to
the Samadhi. We followed the procession;
the Nasik Baba Lovers were given all the
space in front. One old man from Nasik had
trouble ascending the hill and was helped
by a younger Nasik Baba Lover. The older
man’s lips were trembling, holding back sobs
at having arrived at his Beloved Baba’s Sama
dhi! When the Nasik pilgrims reached the
top of the hill, they circled Baba’s Samadhi
seven times while chanting Baba’s name.
Then they got in line to take His Darshan.
I cannot tell you the depths ofjoyous victory
we all felt for them. Such love for Baba!
8November: As I sit here writing, I hear
fireworks going offin the area. Diwali was on
the 4th November. It is the biggest celebra
tion in India, a celebration of the victory of
light over darkness! Homes, businesses, and
most buildings put up lights; small clay pots
of different shapes and sizes are lit with oil
and placed on steps or windows. Paper lanterns hang with lights in them. In the Meher
Pilgrim Center the tables are decorated with
flowers and little lamps or candles. The floor
is decorated in colorftul designs. The steps

in front of the MPC also have little lamps.
Diwali is a charming time, very pretty
The men’s side ofthe new Meher Pilgrim
Retreat, has the main structure complete for
half of the U shape. There is going to be a
large laundry room for washing all the linens
and pilgrim laundry; that room is attached
to the corner of the men’s U shape nearest
the women’s side. The structure for that is
also partly done. On the women’s side the
wails are almost finished on the ground floor
and part way done on the second floor. On
the roof the wail around the edges is going
up. Also, the holes have now been dug for
the long hail of offices. There will be two
floors of offices.
Special Note: All Meherabad phone
numbers now have a new prefix of”2”. For
example: previously the Meher Pilgrim
Center phones were 548733 and 548736;
they are now 2548733 and 2548736.
22 November: In October we had pil
grims from Norway, Switzerland, Germany,
France, Mexico, Israel, USA, Canada, Italy,
Australia, England, Turkey, and Spain! We
always have pilgrims, of course, from here
in India. Right now we have six pilgrims
from the four main Hawaiian islands, Maui,
Kauai, Oahu, and Hawaii.
There was a groundbreaking ceremony
at Meherazad on Thursday the 14th for the
new small Archive building near the medi
cal clinic. The ceremony began at 9:30 am
sharp. A wooden altar with Beloved Baba’s
photo in it was placed in the marked site,
and garlands were placed on Baba’s photo.
Incense was lit, the Arti was sung, and the
prayers were said by all. The breaking of the
ground with picks then commenced.
The weather has turned to Autumn. It
is warm during the day and cold at night.
Sitting in the Samadhi is heavenly. A soft
breeze blows in and it is cool inside. What
I find amazing is that even when so many
pilgrims are here, there are times when you
go to the Samadhi and you have Baba all to
yourself! You are sitting in the Samadhi, a
soft breeze blowing, birds chirping, and you
have Him all to yourself heavenly!

9od may be compared to the
sandalwood.
3t continually emits a sweet scent in all
directions, though only those who take
the trouble to go near it have the
benefit of its charming fragrance.
Meher Baba,
from the video Avatar

ML
Ward ¶1!arks,

6 2Iovember 2002

ast week in Mandali Hall, Meherazad,
pilgrims and residents were regaled by
Dorab Satha, cousin to Eruch and longtime
Baba lover from Mumbai. Dorab had been
blessed with many opportunities for Meher
Baba’s darshan in the 1950s and 60s; and
the reminiscences he shared were surcharged
with the feeling and fragrance ofthose wonderful times with the Beloved.
Unfortunately I missed the first session;
but here are two anecdotes from the Hail as
recounted by Dorab a week ago Thursday.
One of Dorab’s stories concerns Hafiz,
Meher Baba’s favorite poet, whose poetry
Dorab too knew intimately, having been
ordered by Baba to write out one of the
Master-poet’s ghazals each time he wrote
a letter to Him.
On one occasion with Baba the subject
of a certain couplet of Hafiz’s arose. The
couplet reads thus:
“Gunah agar che nabood be ikhtiyare
maa Hafiz Tu dar tarike adabkoosh wo goo
gunahe manast.”
(“Though the fault be not of your own
choosing, 0 Hafiz, Strive in the way ofmanners and say, The fault is mine.”)
Now this couplet is not on the face of
it particularly easy to understand, but Baba
explained that it had a background that only
He knew and He proceeded to narrate the
following story.
It seems that Hafiz had recently spent a
morning alone with His Master, Moham
med Attar, who had been telling him to
perform various foolish and odd actions.
Without questioning, Hafiz did as he was
ordered. But that evening, a crowd of dis
ciples and followers came for the Master’s
darshan. Attar availed himselfofthe oppor
tunity to belittle and ridicule Hafiz, telling
the people, “This morning, do you know
what this man did? What a dolt! What a
donkey!” And he proceeded to relate all of
Hafiz’s odd behavior without mentioning
that Hafiz had done these things in obedi
ence to his own instructions!
At this time many ofthe Master’s followers were feeling greatjealousy toward Hafiz,
and the Master’s ridicule was like music to
their ears. Hafiz, for his part, was unable
to defend himself for to do so, he would
have to have shown his own Master in an
unfavorable light. What a trap! Concerned
for his Master’s dignity and not wanting

L

to let him down, Hafiz had to swallow his
pride and take all of this humiliation upon
his own head.
The path to God is constantly beset
with trials such as this. Indeed, as the great
Urdu poetJigar has said in another line that
Dorab cited:
“Yeh ishq nahin aasaan, itnaa to samajh
lijiye, Ek aag kaa daryaa hai, aur doob ke
jaanaa hai!”
(“This love is not so easy, try to understand this much: It is an ocean of fire, and
one passes through by drowning in it.”)
The second story was a personal one on
Dorab’s part, and very touching. It concerned
the meeting at Meherazad on October 13th
1968 to which Baba invited a small number
of workers from Pune, Mumbai, and other
places. The participants were under strict
orders not to ask Baba for anything, not to
give Him anything, and not to convey any
messages.
Dorab’s cousin Burjor had been called
to attend, but Dorab himself had not been
invited. Nonetheless, Dorab felt prompted
to ask Burjor to carry with him a bottle of
Yardley Lavender perftime, Baba’s favorite.
Naturally Burjor refused, citing Baba’s order.
But Dorab appealed to him: “I’m not asking
you actually to give it to Baba. I’mjust asking
you to take itwith you in your bag, and when
you return, to bring it back again.”
Eventually Burjor yielded. The October
13th meeting went well, and at its conclu
sion, the attendees were all dismissed from
Mandali Hall. But immediately Burjor was
summoned back inside. “Have you brought
anything for Me?” Baba asked him. “No, no!”
Burjor answered. “Don’t try to deceive Me!”
Baba said. “Ifyou have brought something,
you should give it to Me.” So Burjor handed
over the bottle of perfume; and before he
even had time to return to Mumbai, Dorab
received a telegram from Baba saying that
the perfume which he had sentwith so much
love had been received by Him, and that He
sent His love blessings to Dorab and his wife
Roshan and child Percis.
This story has a sequel. Over that final
year of Baba’s physical lifetime, for reasons
no doubt known to Him alone, Baba had
refused to take a bath. The women mandali were becoming extremely anxious over
Baba’s skin condition and sent an S.O.S. to
Eruch, asking for his help.

7

After at least one failure (and Eruch’s
account of this is worth retelling in its
own right), at last he prevailed through a
ruse. For after Baba had still another time
reffised to take a bath, Eruch pleaded with
Him,”At least let me wash Your feet!” For
the delicate skin on Baba’s feet had become
extremely dry and would peal off with the
slightest rubbing.
Finally Baba agreed, and Eruch brought
into Baba’s room the basin ofscented warm
water that he had prepared for this contin
gency. At first he bathed Baba’s feet, then
His ankles, and then, with more coaxing,
His legs, and so on, until he had given Him
a complete bath despite protests from Baba
all along! When he was finished, Baba said

to Eruch, “You learned this trick from Me.”
For Baba had done the same thing Himself
during His mast tours ofthe 1940s when He
was trying to give baths to reluctant masts!
The perfume with which Eruch had
scented the water was from Dorab’s bottle
of Yardley Lavender. As it happened, this
was the last bath that Baba ever took. He
dropped His body a week or two later.
Thus in His own unique way Baba ar
ranged that the perfume used in His final
bath would have been given to Him with
love by one of His own lovers.
Such was the fare that Beloved Baba
provided to us last week at Mandali Hall,
Meherazad.

ile I lay in bed, Beloved Baba ap
peared before me and disappeared in
a few seconds, but his Voice was ringing in
my heart.
I felt as ifHe were asking me something,
and I heard in my heart, “Do you remember
how you would forget points I would give
you during your night watch? Some points
I would give for the next day. Other points
I would give for a particular time after a
week. And the third type I would give you
and ask you to remind Me on a certain date
after three months. You would remind Me
of those points for the next day, but you’d
forget the points I would askyou to remind
Me after a week. I would come to Mandali
Hall, and I Myselfwould deliver that point.
Immediately, you would remember that I
had asked you to remind Me on that day of
a certain point.
“Now, knowledge knows, knowledge
does not think. Because I kno I can never
forget. You don’t know, and therefore you
forget. But this forgetfulness is not real
Forgetfulness. If you experience real Forgetftilness, you will experience Knowledge.
That Knowledge is eternal; it has no past and
no future; it is always in the Present. And
therefore, I know everything, and I cannot
forget anything.
“You don’t know. Because of that, you
have the past and you have the ftiture. You
cannot remain all the time in the Present.
For Knowledge, there is only the Present. It
is not associated with the past, and it is not
associated with the future. In the domain
of ignorance, there is past; there is future.

Whatever you think happened millions of
years ago did not happen for Knowledge.
Nothing happens in the domain of Knowl
edge. Everything happens in the domain of
ignorance. Unless this ignorance is wiped
out, and complete Forgetfulness is achieved,
you cannot experience Knowledge.
“You forget, but your forgetfulness is in
the domain ofignorance. This forgetfulness
cannot help you. Do not think that you are
making progress. That’s your forgetfulness.
“There was one person from South India
who had come to Me at Meherazad. With
him, he brought a Bible, a Koran and
das. I embraced him and asked him to sit
near Me.
“Do you remember? What did he say at
the time?”
I replied, “Yes, Baba, I do remember. He
said, ‘With the verses from the Bible, the
Koran and k’das, I can prove you are the
Avatar.’
“So I told the man, ‘I’m very happy to
hear this. What is this you have brought?’
“He said, ‘I always carry the Bible, the
Koran, and the Vedas. If any discussion
takes place anywhere, I prove that you are
the Avatar through these books.’
“How fortunate you are that you can
prove Me to be the Avatar. I am really very
very happy with that.’
“I embraced him, and he left. Then I said
to the mandali, ‘I cannot prove Myself to
be the Avatar, but so fortunate is this man,
he can prove Me to be the Avatar! I must
learn from him.’
-

“I laughed, and the Mandali laughed.
Then I said to them, ‘No one can prove that
I am the Avatar through words. One has to
achieve complete Forgetfulness to know Me.
When complete Forgetfulness is achieved,
you know everything, all the time. There is
no question offorgetting anything.’
“Therefore, know well, you are ignorant,”
Baba said to me in His silent Voice, “and
because you are ignorant, your forgetfulness
does not help Me. On the contrary it causes
Me trouble because I have to remind you.
Forgetfulness in the domain of illusion is
also binding. You are not free. Do not think
that it is a help to you because you forget.
You are ignorantly ignorant.”
“In the beginning, there was one man
with Me, K.F. Dastur. He was editing the
magazine, Meher Message. Whenever I
would give discourses, he would take down
them down. Then he would publish the
discourses in the magazine.
“Then what happened? One mast was
brought to Meherabad. Nobody knew anything about masts at the time. So I explained
to the Mandali, ‘This man is not mad—he
is very very advanced. Though he appears
mad, in reality, you are all mad! He is the
only wise person here with Me.’
“I assigned one assistant to look after the
mast. Every morning, I would give the mast
one blanket. What would the mast do? He
would just unravel all the threads from the
blanket. By evening, the blanket would be
a bundle of threads, which the mast would
present to Me. Again, the next morning, I
would give him another blanket.
“Dastur was very, very happy to hear
about the subtle world and subtle planes,
and mental world and mental planes. Then
he got a whim that he should also become a
mast. So he started behaving like that mast.
Because he had become a mast, he did not

edit Meher Message.
“I was observing him. Then one day, I
told the Mandali, ‘Dastur was very, very
helpful for My work. He was editing Meher Message, but now that he has become a
mast, he’s advancing on the spiritual path.
How can I stop him?’
“Then I gave Dastur an assistant to look
after him. I instructed the assistant, ‘This
new mast will not eat and wiil not sleep. But
don’t worry, just look after him.’
“On the first day of his intoxication,
what does Dastur do? He did not eat, but
he would remember the appetite he had, so
he became restless. He was running here and
there. No mast would do such a thing, but
in order to escape thoughts of hunger he

was running. He was also throwing stones.
When he was running, the assistant had to
run after him also, because I had given the
assistant the duty oflooking after Dastur.
“The first day, though he felt hungry,
Dastur did not eat. He was running here
and there, and he was throwing stones. I had
also told the assistant that Dastur woald not
sleep. He was already restless, and he had to
stay awake. So Dastur would climb up a tree,
and the assistant also had to climb up to look
after him. Dastur was very very restless.
“Anyway, the next morning when I went
to Dastur, I asked his assistant, ‘Did he eat
yesterday?’
“No, Baba,’ said the assistant.
“Did he sleep last night?’
“No, Baba.’
“Then I said to the assistant, ‘I’ve already
told you that he would not eat, and he would
not sleep, so why do you worry? Just look
after him.’
“This new mast was in trouble. Again,
he was becoming very, very restless. He
was running here and there, putting dust
on his body. He was a Qualified Mast, so
he was doing whatever he could think of
pretending in order for others to know that
he was a mast.
“At night, he was praying and praying
internally, and I heard his prayer. He was
praying, ‘Baba, save me! I can not remain
without eating, and I cannot remain without
sleep.’
“The next morning when I came, I
asked the assistant, ‘Did he eat, and did
he sleep?’
He answered, ‘No, Baba.’
“This man, Dastur, was very very helpftil
in My work,’ I said. ‘He was editing Meher
Message. Now that work is failing. No one
can do it without him. So I have to bring
him down to normal consciousness.’
“Lifting My hand, I said, ‘From today
onwards, Dastur will be normal.’
As soon as he heard this, Dastur went
into the kitchen and started eating the food.
Afterwards, he slept.
“Now listen to Me carefully. He wanted
become
to
a mast, but he could not forget
his false self. He would remember his false
selfcontinuously. Because ofthat, he would
feel hunger, and he would think that he was
sleepy. He was feeling tired. Actually, one
who travels in the subtle plane does not
think about hunger and does not think
about sleep. That’s why it is not Forgetfid—
ness that Dastur experienced. When For—
getfulness comes, you forget everything. You
don’t remember.
-

“Just see Mohammed Mast at Mehe
rabad. He’s on the fifth plane. He eats, but
his eating is different. He does not care for
food. When he eats, he eats. When he does
not eat, he does not eat for months at a time.
Still, he has not achieved the state of com
plete Forgetfhlness. Unlike an ordinary person, who, when he does not eat, remembers,
when Mohammed does not eat, he does not
remember. He does not think about food.
“Dastur was imitating, and his imitation
would make him remember the false self
He would not think about the Real Self In
order to achieve complete and perfect Forgetfulness, one has to forget the false self
not because ofloss ofmemor It is achieved
through the grace ofGod. So followMe and
become worthy of that grace.”
The Voice stopped, and I felt so happy.
With all love and Jai Baba to you.

:...:it:uuu1
Erucli 3essawctlct
omeone in India asked Baba how to
love Him, and the reply Baba gave was:
“I don’t know how you should love Me. It
is for you to show Me the way you should
love me. I am the Ocean ofLove; how am I
to know how you should love Me?
It is for you to love Me. I say love Me.
How to love Me is your lookout—being
the very Ocean of Love, how am I to know
how to love Me?” Do you follow what Baba
means?
Here is Baba’s explanation: “If you happen to meet a beautiftil girl, and you fall
in love with her at first sight, as you call it,
you become restless. You begin to love her
so much that you cannot sleep, you have
no appetite, no interest in the world. You
want only to possess her. Baba says that one
should love Him to such an extent that one
forgets about food, sleep, rest. One becomes
absolutely restless to be united with Baba,
to possess Baba. That does not mean that
we really should give up food or sleep. The
restlessness should come naturally, sponta
neously. How will it come? Think of Baba
think of Him frequently.”
Christ said: “Leave all and follow me.”
What did He mean by that? He did not
mean leave the body, food, sleep and all
that. No. He meant leave all thoughts of
possessions, all worldly thoughts, and think
only of Him.
Baba says: “Think of Me to such an ex
tent that you see Me, however far away I may

draw you to Jl4e,
and to make you realize
you are bliss itself
3 come amongst you
and suffer infinite agony.
7:o

Meher Baba, from the video Avatar

9

We continue from our last issue with

Jkkrnaries

of J11obct

Events Surrounding AIoba’s ¶l?nssiny
Compiled by JJ2aya,n .J1jaiig (with the most gracious help of Dr. 3arlicid .SIiafa)
Farhad Shafa,
a long-time Iranian Sufi Baba lover
(who has been living in
the U.S. for most of his
adult life) shared some
his experiences in
India. While there is
much to narrate and
many “coincidences”
surrounding Aloba’s
passing, a few incidents
described by Dr. Shafa
are highlighted below.
It so happened that
Dr. Shafa was one of
200 Sufi’s who had
traveled to Meherabad
for putting on the
much-anticipated series
that had been in the making
Soon after his arrival, Dr.
Shafa heard of Aloba’s fall that had taken
place the week before and had resulted in
the broken hipbone.
While Dr. Shafa did not have the
chance to visit Alobaji in the hospital, he
heard from those who had visited him that
Aloba’s moods seemed to quickly fluctuate;
he would belaughing heartily and then burst
into tears. Although many ofus have heard
Aloba talk
about his predictions of
world calamity and a war originating from
the middle east, Aloba spoke ofthese events
with much more intensity On a side note,
Sarang Ajang, who was also in
Meherabad on his first trip, related that
Aloha would make a gesture with his
hands, sliding the palms of his hands back
and forth together while he would remark
in Farsi “Iran will be crushed” and then he’d
begin to sob.
Prior to the surgery Aloha was given
spinal anesthesia (not general anesthesia) so
he was able to converse readily. Apparently,
towards the end of surgery the surgeon was
becoming too distracted by Aloba’s verbos
it)’; Aloha’s caretaker then kindly asked him
in Farsi to remain quiet. In Farsi, there are
several words for quiet, but the one that

fr.

.

of

forofprograms
several years.

often

my cousin,

a light, shining from his
eye. His lips were also
: turned upward- as if he
was smiling. I can only
imagine what a glori
ous union it must have
:
been.
Aloha’s body was
then taken to lower
Meherabad and placed
in the old Mandali hail.
Given the fact that
many Baba lovers from
all over India had come
for the week long programs presented by the
Sufis, there were huge
numbers present at
Meherabad, who came
to pay their respects to
this fiery soul who had so dutifully served
Baba. Also present was Murshida Carol
Conner and other representatives from
Baba’s Sufism Reoriented.
The hail was filled with music and singhours. Dr. Shafa remarked
that the whole atmosphere was filled with
Baba’s love. It seemed to him that a feeling
similar to Amartithi celebrations permeated
the room. Baba was so present that ail were
intoxicated by it. The translation of Aloba’s
Persian Arti and the line of poetry Beloved
Baba had added in Farsi to Aloba’s forty line
poeml was read in English, then translated
to Hindi and Marati.
The line Baba added goes like this:
0’ compassionate God have mercy on
Shapoorzaman So he may achieve union
with you like Rumi and Bayzi.
Dr. Shafa added that it seemed that Baba
Himselfwas praying for Aloba to one day,
not just to achieve union, but to become a
Perfect Master.
Also a Fal from Hafiz was read in Farsi
by Zahra Ajang then translated.
Later that day, Mohammed the mast
came in as well, He apparently had com
mented earlier to Flint (his caretaker) ‘Aloba
is not here anymore”. In the afternoon Mehens and Katie from Meherazad also joined

was used was “khamoosh bash” which also
has a second, more literal meaning of “turn
off the light”. When this was said, Aloba
said “all right I will be khamoosh” and then
gave his last Jai Baba. His blood pressure
quickly dropped. Those were Aloha’s last
words before uniting with his Beloved
Meher Baba. However, his physical body
was attached to a heart and lung machine
to keep it working.
It so happened that on that day, August
th,
13
the Sufi group was performing a musical
Meherazad in Manadali
Hall. Meheru interrupted the program to
share the news. She noted that although the
surgery was successftil there were complica
and that Aloba was put on life
She then said how fortunate they all were
to be there and celebrating, and that this
must have all been orchestrated for Aloba
by Beloved Baba. So, while Aloba was on his
journey back to Baba, a big joyous celebra
tion was taking place.
At 1:30 p.m. on August 13t, Aloba
merged with Baba.
Later that day, Aloba’s bodywas brought
to Manadali Hail in Meherazad and placed
in front ofBaba’s chair. Dr. Shafa described
Aloha as looking beautiftul. His right eye
was slightly open and there was a sparkle,

program at

tions

support.

ing for several

the gathering to say their final farewell to
dear Aloba and pay homage to the love of
their life long companion for the Eternal
Beloved, Meher Baba.
Aloba’s bodywas then taken to the burial
site where all the men Manadali are buried.
Eight people lowered Aloba’s body into the
pitch next to Eruch’s grave. Dr. Shafa re
called how much Aloba loved Baba’s picture
so he quickly took off his Baba button and
put it on a flower on Aloba’s body and later
retrieved it, just before the burial, so that
Baba’s beautiftil face would not be covered
by dirt.
As if all this was not enough, that very
afternoon at 4:30 the Sufi’s presented a program of devotional music at Meherabad as
part ofthe week-long programs.
th,
The following day, on the 15
another
program was put on by the Sufi’s in Mehe
razad. Upon its completion, a silence ofgrace
descended on the gathering. Dr. Shafa again
was reminded ofAmartithi, relating that no
one seemed to want to break that silence.
Meheru then ended the program remarking
that Aloba is no longer here to ring his bell
to signal us to depart.
Arnavaz later shared with Dr. Shafa that
Aloba must have had a strong connection
with the Sufi’s for Baba to have brought
them all there at that particular time of
Aloba’s passing.
Dr. Shafa related that Aloba seemed to
have known for some time that his time to
join Baba had finally arrived. In the previ
ous Amartithi a time which many Iranian
Baba lovers come from Iran to pay homage
to Baba- Aloba had said to the Iranian group
“this is the last time you’ll see me.” Aloba
had even asked of the Meherazad servants
to pray for him so that Baba would take him
soon. But after hearing that Meher Baba
had once said to a man that every time he
asked that Baba take his life, 10 years would
actually be added to his life, Aloba quickly
changed his tune.
While not all ofAloba’s predictions have
come to pass (at least not yet and not in ac
cordance to our sense of time in this world
ofillusion), he did surely know that his time
had come. and what a blessed and most
fortunate soul he was to have lived with and
served God in human form- the Avatar of
this age!
-

.

.

1 WhileBaba was still in the body,Aloba had written 40 couplets in Farsi andhad read it out to Baba.
Baba toldAloba that thepoem was notyet complete
because it was missing the last couplet referred to as
‘takhalot” So Baba said to Aloha that He himse’f
would complete itfor him.
-

!Rnklii .SIwivctstciva, Dnditi
en Meherazad opened for Pilgrims
this year on 2nd July, my family and I
went there as a part ofbig Sahavas group and
I heard that Aloba Uncle was not well. One
day at Meherazad I heard that he was coming
out so I went and sat with him. He asked me
WI said Baba’s prayers. I said, “Uncle when I’m
here I do attend both Artis, but when I am at
home I onlydo eveningArti.”For the first time
he was not angry, but he said “Think about it
in this manner—you eat food both times, even
when you are at home—so do Baba’s prayers
both times.”
On 2lstJuly he came to Mandall Hall. He
was very weak but still he came inside and
told us that Baba’s Manifestation is very near.
He had told a Baba lover from Ahmednagar
to bring some laddu’s as prasad and told us
to take only one laddu while going out. That
day he was actually struggling to breathe. On
July28th he again came to Mandali Hall, this
time with the Irani family who had been here
in February I learned that whenever he has
seen that family he was very happy. He had
told somebody to make a garland for Beloved
Baba’s chair, so Rayon was there with the gar
land. Around noon Aloba said “Nowlet’s offer
this garland to Beloved Baba.” He touched the
garland and in spite ofhis pain he stood up and
stayed standing ll the Irani couple offered the
garland. Then he said, “There are some more
laddu’s here. Remember Beloved Baba, Aloba
is nothing, don’t waste this precious time.”
On 4th August when we went to Mehe
razad we heard that the night before he had
fallen and fractured his hip; they are going to
take him to Pune and an operation has to be
done to fix his hip. On 10th August Mehera
and Dr. Tom Decker announced that they
neededblood type B Positive forAlobaUnde’s
operation, which was scheduled to be on the
following Tuesday. I was the only person who
raised her hand, because all others were above
the age limit that they had given. So on 11th
August Jessica, Charles and I went to Pune.
Charles was going to meet Bhauji and both of
us were going to donate blood. So we reached
the hospital around 10:30 in the morning.
Both ofus decided to go and meet Aloba
Uncle. We went to his room, but that time he
was taking rest so we just sat for some time
in his room and were talking with Rayon and
Meherdokht. Then we came down and went
to meet Bhauji, who was in another hospital.
On our way back to Meherabad we again
went to see Aloba Uncle. This time he was

awake and he recognized Charles and asked
him how he was. He said “Jai Baba” to Jessica
and then he looked at me and said “meoi” ilke
a cat! I remember he used to do that before.
Then he held myhand. Meherdokht told him
that we came to donate blood for him and he
said that we were good people. We asked him
how is the hospital. He said “Oh! Hospital is
hospital but they are taking good care of me”.
He was holding my hand for about 5 minutes
and I was happy to see him. I found him in
much better condition than when I last met
him in Meherazad. After some time he said
“OK now you all go to Meherabad.”We said
Jai Baba andweleft. So this was mylast meetmg with him.
On 12th August I met Sally in dining hail.
She came there as she was going to Pune to
be there for Aloba Uncle’s operation. I was
very happy to see her. On 13th we went to
Meherazad. I met Goher Auntie and Katie
Auntie and we all talked about my blood
donation and Aloba Uncle’s operation and
we were thinking that the operation must be
overbythen.At around 11:45 everybody came
into Mandall Hall to attend the Sufi program.
Mischa Rutenberg, one ofthe lead singers, was
going to present some songs.
About 12.15 while we were enjoying the
Si.ifi songs and I was standing at the back of
Mandali HailI saw Fallu(RodhaAuntie’s son)
coming in and saying something to Goher
Auntie. We tried to find outwhat he said, but
we only knew that it was something related
to Aloba Uncle. After the song finished, Mehem Auntie said that they have to make an
announcement. She said that as we all know
todaywas Aloba’s surgery and the surgery was
successflul. Everybody started sayingJai Baba,
but she stopped them and said, ‘As soon they
brought him out of the operating theatre his
heart stopped and his breathing stopped but
the doctors are trying to revive him. Now
we still have 15 minutes, continue with your
program.” As I heard that I don’t know what
happened but I was sure that he was no more. I
came out and saw a Sufi friend ofmine—Bri
gitta, andl started crying.Then suddenlyl saw
Dr. Tom Decker and I told him thatjust now
they had made this announcement and what
do he think? Helooked at me and said that he
had not seen anybody return from such a condition. We thought of calling Sally but as we
were going to call her Failu saw us and he told
Dr.Tom that the doctors arewaitingfor Goher
Auntie’s orders as Aloba Unde is on heartlung
II

machine. Now it was clear that Aloha Unde
was no more with us. He was now with his
Beloved. At this time the Sufi program in the
hail came to an end and they started doing
American Arti and we all sang the Arti. After
that, I went inside and I found Goher Auntie
talking to Sally and saying that they should
bring Aloba Uncle’s body to Meherazad ftrst.
So I was one of the few pilgrims who knew
that he was no more. Others didn’t know till
they reached Meherabad. I was surprised to
see the strength ofthe Mandali. I was crying
like anything and they were very cool
When we reached Meherabad they had
already started digging the grave for Aloba
Uncle to rest. The grave was next to Eruch
Unde. At around 5:30pm Aloba Uncle’s body
came to Meherazad. A few went there to pay
homage to him. On 14th August at 8am
Aloba Uncle’s body was brought in the van
from Meherazad to upperMeherabad.The car
was the same in which Eruch Unde’s body also
came to Meherabad and was the same car in
which we went to Pune. The Irani couple and
Dr. Farhad Shafa, along with Jal Uncle, Meherwan Uncle, Meherdokht and Rayon came
from Meherazad with Aloba Unde.They kept
his bodyinside the tomb andwe did Parvardi
gar prayer, Beloved God prayer and Gujerati
Arti then a Persian did the Prayer that Aloba
Unde used to do. After that they bought the
body to Old Mandali Hall in lower Mehe
rabad. When I went there, there were mixed
feelings in the atmosphere. Aloba Uncle was
looking very beautiftil. An Irani couple sang a
Persian song, and then we had the translation
of the Persian arti into English (by Dr. Farhad Shafa) in Hindi (By Shaligram Sharma)
and in Telagu too. The atmosphere was full
of Beloved Baba’s songs. Then the Irani boy
named Baba played his Irani drum. Around
noon Murshida and a few other Sufis came for
Aloba Uncle’s darshan. They offered flowers
and garlands to him. DollyAuntie told me to
sing our Sahavas song, OM Meher Baba, so I
along with few others sang that song. Around
1 pm Mehens Auntie and Katie Auntie along
with Kacy and Amrit Auntie came and they
offered garlands toAlobaUnde and to beloved
Baba. They sat there until about 2 pm while
songs were going on. Kalyan from London
played violin and the Bombay-Pune group
sang many songs. I got a chance to sing Pile
Pile Meher naam ka pyala.
Just after 2 pm Aloba Unde was carried
to the graveside in an open coffin. Around 2:
l5pm the lidwas placed on the coffin and with
many “Beloved Avatar Meher Baba ki Jais”
his bodywas lowered and after thatwe all got
the chance to throw in a handfiil of sand. We

did that on behalf of all our family members
who were not present there. I was there till 3
pm so I got the chance to pour more sand as
they were filling in the grave. Thus we all gave
Aloba Uncle a warm farewell.
I remember an incident from some time
ago: one dayjal Uncle came to Meherazad in
the evening. I was working there, so we went
inside to meet Aloba Uncle and he came out
laughing. He said “Previously Aloba used to
say, ‘please pray that Beloved Baba should
call me soon’ but now today,” he said, “please
pray for me that I should get well soon.” Meherdokht told us the reason behind this. She
said that somebody told him the story about
a woman who used to curse her mother-inlaw by saying, “Why don’t you die.” One day
she said this in front ofBaba and Baba said,
“Every time when you pray for her death I
add 10 years to her life.” So after listening to
this story, Aloba Uncle started saying that we
should pray that he should get well soon. So
this is the end ofa person who led his life heroically for Beloved Baba! He always used to
say we should do Baba’s prayers at least twice
every day, so let’s try to follow his wish.

ayam has the first story: When I got a
phone call from Dma Snow asking if I
would write an artide about Aloba, I quickly
agreedwithouthesitation, forAloba had given
so much love to me personally as well as my
family that there was no question in my mind
that this was simply my honor and duty But
as soon as I hung up the phone I thought,
“what did I get myselfinto!” For how could I
dojustice to the life ofa soul that loved Baba
so completely?
I can only bow down in reverence to this
precious soul who has touched my life in
ways I cannot easily put into words. Through
knowing Aloba, I have witnessed the inten
sity oflove that only a true lover of God can
personif5
Suffice it to say, without going into detail
about how my family came to Baba, that we
first heard ofMeher Baba in the mid 1980’s
through my paternal unde who had come to
the United States for a visit from Iran after
many, many years. Over the course of about
2 years, we had all become most intrigued by
Meher Baba and had already felt Baba love
our hearts through the visit to our home of

P

two Prem Ashram boys. We had not, however,
fully accepted Meher Baba as God.
I believe it was in 1987 when Aloba first
came to the United States. During his stay in
Los Angeles, we were fortunate to have Aloba
visit our home. Upon entering our living room
area, he quickly asked “where’s Baba’s picture?”
You see, at that time, we were not “Mly” Baba
lovers and did not have any pictures of Baba
hanging up. So Aloba immediately got on
the couch, asked for a pencil, and marked
the spot on the wall behind the couch, way
on top, where Baba’s picture was to be hung.
He fiercely said, (in the way many ofus have
heard Aloba speak), “when I come back, you
must put up Baba’s picture here”. We did so
dutifully, without question.
When Aloba returned a few days later
he was most pleased that a picture of Meher
Baba was framed and hung on the wall (Aloba
used to saythat Baba’s picture should always be
framed). My family and I believe that in that
moment ofhanging Baba’s picture, a key was
turned andwe could then fill heartedily accept
Beloved Meher Baba as God. All questions
seemed to simply dissipate. So Aloba’s role
in our life became significant from then on
and continued through many years to come. I
should add that during his visitin Los Angeles,
Aloba significantlyimpacted the lives ofmany
people, particularlythe Iranians. All seemed to
become charged by his unwavering conviction
in Baba andlivelyspiritwhithwas overflowing
with love for Baba.
During our first visit to Meherabad andMeherazad in 1991, my family and I were
simply showered with Baba’s love. We felt it
in every direction, from the love emanating
from Baba’s Samadhi to the love so beautifully
and humbly expressed in his women and men
Mandali. It was then that our connection with
Alobawas rekindled. He solovinglygreeted us
and made us feel like his long lost family.
I feelthatAloba not onlyhad a special link
to Iranians but he also had a strong affiliation
for this small community of people, for it
was only then that he could speak his native
language and reconnect with his homeland.
I should add that I have also heard of many
incidents in which Aloba was veryloving and
caring towards so many people from so many
different cultures and countries.
I vividly recall our firstvisit to Meherazad.
Aloba was excitingly awaiting our arrival (he
always kept a clipboard with all the pilgrims’
dates ofarrival, particularlymarking the names
of the Iranians). He explained to us that we
should greet all the Mandali, visitBaba’s room,
and then meet together in his room. There, in
his room, we were treated with such hospital-

ity and sweetness as if we were visiting our
grandparent’s home back in Iran. Aloba had
a thermos filled with coffee and miik ready
to go and lovingly fified everyone’s cup. He
then offered us cookies and a platter of fresh
fruit cut up into small pieces. In his old Farsi
vernacular he’d say, “bezan ghadesh!”. While
it is difficult to translate this phrase literally, in
essence it meant something like “come on now,
eat it up!” After tasting our first sip of coffee,
we all looked at each other with a big smile,
for the coffee was so sweet we could hardly
drink it. But that’s how sweet Aloba liked his
drinks and we all of course drank it for it was
so lovingly preparedjust for us.
Backthen, Aloba could still go up Seclusion
Hill and he led our family up there on one oc
casion. At the top ofthe hill, we all said Baba’s
Arti together. In later years, when Aloba could
no longer climb the hill, he’d walkwith us just
to the incline where he had created a shrine
to Baba, speffing out “MEHER BABA’ with
pebbles and rocks which was encirded in yet
another row ofrocks and adorned with flowers. He later sent us a picture ofhimselfsitting
beside this shrine. He wrote on the back ofthe
picture the followingwords in Farsi, translated
as follows:
The dust at Baba’s feet
I, All Akbar Yazdi, Have spelled out His
name with rocks and stones, on Seclusion Hill
in Meherazad. Every morning I pay homage
by offering flowers at His name and thus
renew the memory of that light of the world
in my heart.
Aloba often took special interest in our
mundane problems but always brought the
focus back to Baba. He was most practical in
his guidance, often using simple life analogies
to bring home the point he was making. At
times, with more serious matters, he would
make the person asking the question or the
one with the particular problem stand beside
him in front ofthe Baba shrine he had set up
in his room and pray to Baba with us.
During our first trip (at the time, I was
23 years old), I was at a crossroads about my
career path in that I did not know whether to
obtain a master’s degree or a doctoral degree
in psychology So, I asked Aloha for guidance.
Aloba asked that I write on two pieces ofpaper
my two choices and put it down on the shrine
table. After praying to Babawith Aloha, I was
instructed to pick out one ofthe two pieces of
paper. And that’s how it began- mylong road
ofbecoming a psychologist and then continu
ing in a subspecialty and so on. When people
ask me how I ended up practicing my profes
sion, I doiñ have the typical answer that I had
a passion for it or that I always knew this, I

simplysa”I asked Baba andwithAloba’s help
I went for it!” How can I explain my actions?
To some, it may seem crazy to have done that.
But you see, its about our conviction and faith,
the inner knowing thatleads us to take certain
actions that may seem insane in hindsight or
even in the moment. To this day, I have no
idea how it has all happened. I have only cxperienced that when I let go and trust Baba it
always, always, works in my best interest and
in the most naturalway. Unfortunately, I seem
to forget this much too often!
Shifting now to the recent years with
Aloba, I’d like to share an experience that
related to my maternal uncle. In November
2001, my family and I again went to India,
this time, my uncle Rezajoined us from Iran.
On one ofourvisits to Meherazad, Aloba was
making an important point and myunde happened to ask a question that Aloba did not
like as he thought it was not directly related
to the topic at hand. He was a bit curt with
my uncle, and not knowing Aloba’s ways, my
uncle’s feelings were hurt. So subtly, after a few
minutes, my uncle left Aloba’s room. Aloba
later realizedwhathad happened. On our next
visit to Meherazad, Aloba rushed to my uncle
and requested that he come to his room. He
offered him fruits and sweets and there, he
wholeheartedly asked for my uncle’s forgiveness,weeping all the while for having hurt him
so. I share this incident for it speaks to Aloba’s
love and how important every detail was to
him in his desire to please Meher Baba.
I believe for many though, it was difficult
to understand Aloha’s ways. With his fiery
personallty he’d often make comments or do
things that seemed to others absurd or foolish.
For many, the ways oflove cannotbe reconciled
with the mind. And how fitting it was that a
few hours before dropping His body, Beloved
Meher Baba asked Aloha to read aloud His
favorite three couplets from the Persian poet
and Perfect Master Hafiz:

13cfltting cifortunateslave camj out evej
command oftheA4aste, without any piestion ofwhy and what.
..J1bout what ou hearfrom the .A4istei’, naer say it is wrong because my dear,
the fault lies in your own incapacity to
understand 2lim.
3 am slave of the ..7I4,aster, Who has
released me from ignorancç, Whatcver my
7I/Iaster does is ofthe highest benefit to all
concerned.

In January 2000, my family and I went
to India on our fourth trip. Though we had
planned to stay only for two weeks, Aloha
insisted that we stay longer so that we would
not miss Amartithi. He said, “How can you
come to the river thirsty and not take a drink
from thatriver.You must stay!”Although deep
within my heart I wanted to stay, it seemed
quite difficult for my father and sister to
change around all their work responsibilities.
They reasoned and reasoned with Aloha until
he said”We’ll askBaba!”Then theyknew they
were done for because whenever Aloba would
ask Baba anything, it seemed to us that what
was in Aloba’s heart would happen. We witnessed this many times over as Aloba would
ask Baba by writing down on two pieces of
paper the two options or by ffipping a coin.
So what happened? You guessed it. we
stayed! And what a blessing it was. We all left
Meherabad feeling so Ml ofBaha’s love. How
oftenwe get attached to this illusoryworld and
forget what matters most. We were so grateful
for Aloha’s persistence, for it was yet another
experience that strengthened our conviction
in Him even more so.
And lastly, I’ll share a hit about Aloha’s
role in my coming together with my husband,
Glenn Russ. In the same trip (January 2000),
Aloha had come to Meherabad to stay for
several days so that he could be with the Iranian contingent (at that time many had come
from Iran for Amartithi). I vividly recall sitting near the Table Room (where Meher Baba
had handwritten’The Book’,)withAloba, my
family, and several other Iranians while Aloba
shared stories with us. Then, suddenly, Aloha
decided to do a Fal from Hafiz to see what the
future held in store for me. He asked that I go
into Baba’s Table Room and pray to Baba. I
came out and opened the book ofHafiz. Aloba
read it aloud. He was so excited about the news.
Unfortunately, I could notunderstand most of
itfor although myconversational Farsi is pretty
good, I have a difficult time understanding
the poetry ofHafizwith all its symbolism. So
Aloba and others around translated the poem
into simple Farsi. Aloba then related that I
would be getting married very soon, I’d be very
happy, and many good things were in store for
me.Aloba said this so convincinglythat one of
our dear Iranian friends remarked, “So I guess
I’ll be expecting a wedding invitation!”
After Amartithi we returned to Los Angeles and in about two months, all thoughts
about Aloha’s prediction faded. It was around
October2000when I decided to start a project
related to Baba workin Los Angeles. I begancalling several Baba lovers in the area asking
fortheirhelp, suggestions,etc. Glenn happened
.

.

‘3

to be one of them. While I had seen Glenn
at many Baba-related events spanning across
at least 10 years, these were on rare occasions,
maybe once or twice a year, because for many
years I lived in San Francisco while attending
graduate schooL I was consequently not in Los
Angeles that often. At the time of my phone
call, I had relocated to Los Angeles for a little
over a year.
So that phone call was the first one in a
series ofseveral more to follow as we decided
to support each otherinbeing more disciplined
in our path to Baba. For example, we’d try to
keep silence for a short period each day, spend
time in nature, things like that.
In December, I was at the Los Angeles
Center for a special event. I had heard one of
the Baba lovers who had just returned from
Meherabad saying how fortunate we all were
to have the opportunity to visit Baba’s home
and that no one should hesitate to go in these
precious times. So in that moment I got the
impulse, the inner push (or whatever people
may call it), to go to India again forAmartithi.
Now, the only thing was that I was supposed
to test1ff in court regarding a patient’s case on
January 3lst!The other seemingly not so dif—
ficuk problem was that I didn’t want to travel
alone as my family could notjoin me.
So I began asking around whom in the
Baba community would be able to join me.
Andwho was one ofthose people? Glenn! But
having just been in India only three months
before, he was not sure he could make it. And I
still had the other problem ofhaving to testify
It was ofcourse all in Baba’s hands...
Needless to say, within about a five-week
period, Glenn got the time offfrom work, my
court date got miraculously postponed, and we
got our tickets. Two days before our departure,
we received our passports via Federal Express!
So, on January 23rd 2001, Glenn and I left
for India. This was the first time I was going
without the company ofmy family.
Glenn now writes his side of the story:
While in recent years I had thoughts about
mamage, I had dismissed them as impractical.
Remembering Baba’s words that marriage is
a spiritual undertaking and that it could be
of great benefit for one’s spiritual path, I did
not take the idea ofmarriage lightly. But even
so, where was I to find such a wife! Nonethe
less, there was what you could say an intuitive
calling that someday Baba would want me to
get married.
Havingjust returned from a trip to Kash
mir, an act of intuition and faith, I felt internally quiet and full oflove. On September 12,
2000, my &st Meherazad day, I sat down in
Mandali Hall to listen to Aloha tell stories of

his life with Meher Baba. After many beauti
fLil stories of Baba’s Love and Compassion,
Aloba paused a long while, seeming to look
right through me. After a moment of silence
Aloba said, “What is your name?” My mind
said, ‘maybe he’s not talking to you’ but, before
I could look around, my heart answered and I
spoke my name. He paused then asked, “What
is your profession?” Immediately I answered,
“Paramedic.” “This is a good job,” he said.
Then he paused, looked deep into my eyes
and said, ‘Are you married?” “No,” I replied.
Without hesitation Aloba soberly said, “You
must get married immediately!” Aloba ex
plained, “There are three women who secretly
love you.” And furthermore, that one of these
women is “not good to marry” Aloba went on
to tell everyone in Mandali Hall how I must
come to Amartithi this year.” He explained
that I had to be in India specifically on the
“30th and the 31st ofJanuary” in order to be
truly happy, because there .is a special trea
sure that has been waiting for you your whole
Jife.”Well I thought, doesn’t such a treasure
ally apply to anyone who takes Baba’s darshan
at the Samadhi during Amartithi?
Then Aloba discoursed for about ten mmutes on the beauty and importance of marriage.
All the while Aloba was pantomiming how a
loving wife cooks good food, dresses you for
work, deans your house, massages your feet,
and on and on. Aloba beckoned me to sit next
to him. He had hardly started the next story
when it was “time to board the bus!”
On the bus back to Meherabad, Aloba’s
command for me to immediately marry was
the subject ofgreat amusement. Women who
were present came over smiling, saying things
like “I don’t know which wives he’s taking
about, I love my husband and I doiñ do any of
those things.” It was easy for my mind to dis
miss what had happened—because of course
this was Aloba tailcing the man who regularly
predicts the end ofthe world.Though, regardless ofwhatl thought, therewas a truth hidden
in Aloba’s words that was swimming in my
gut. A deep quiet recognition was welling up
in me. As a compromise, my mind agreed that
whatAloba had to sayto mewas importantbut
could notbe understoodliteraily. Even though
I struggled and resisted, I knewthis was Baba’s
instruction, trulyl knewitbefore Aloba spoke
it. Butwhat to do, marriage,let alone marriage
immediately, seemed at best impractical and
at worst impossible.
On my next trip to Meherazad, after hugging Aloba, I explained, “I respect the truth
in your direction and I truly want to honor
your intuition but it doesn’t seem practical.” I
continued to explain that I was “not currently
“. . .

“. .

dating anyone and people in the West do not
get married overuight getting married to the
right person is not something that happens
so quickly. “Aloba replied, “Don’t worry if she
is tall or short, thin or fat, like this, like that;
these things are not important.” I interrupted
“But how will I?” “Don’t worry you have six
months, now go!”
Ileftlndiawith the conviction that following this instruction through my heart would
please Baba. I knew I could not make such a
thing happen. But, with faith and courage, I
believed Baba would create the opportunity
for me to please him. Now, I was not only to
get married but also to return in India in three
months. What am I crazy?
Without going into great detail, there re
ally was no great struggle and it all happened
quite naturally; Ijust kept the possibility open
in my heart.
Just a few weeks before Amartithi, the
money to return to India came from an
unexpected $2500 bonus (I’ve never gotten
one before or since). I had already used all my
vacation time yet somehow I got the time off
from work. I made it to my first Amartithi,
January 2001.
“I am very happy. Both love each other,
and both of you love Meher Baba from the
bottom ofyour hearts. I am grateful to Meher
Baba for myright advisingyou and expediting
the matter, if you both (had) not jumped to
catch the opportunity and delayed the matter
for 3 more months you would miss the point,
(it)wouldgo out ofyourhand. Carryon your
marriage life but never forget Meher Baba the
Creator ofyou both, perform His Arti at your
house twice a day morn and evening. Myjai
Baba to Payam, a fine bride Baba gave you,
right from Shiraz the land ofRoses and beauties. Love, Aloba.”
One year and three weeks after Aloba’s
prompting, Payam and I had our first of four
weddings, and ifyou count our most natural
commitment to each other under the stars in
front ofAdele Wolldn’s house, to support each
other on the path to union with the Beloved,
to become spiritual partners, well then, that’s
five sets ofvows we have exchanged.
On October 12th, under Baba’s Tree in
Ojai, California, a dear Baba friend performed
an intimate civil ceremony focused on our
Beloved Meher Baba. In November 2001, we
returned to India to ftulfill our mutual dream
of marrying in Meherabad--the simple yet
inwardly significant act of silently offering
our life together to Meher Baba. We had a
wonderful evening of celebration at Jal and
Dollyls home. The evening included a very
funny and spontaneous group participatory
. .

. .

forward up front honesty
demonstrating, as Baba,
Himself once remarked,
a frighteningly intense
devotion and love of his
: Beloved God, tempered
I by a great sense ofhumour
coupled with a relaxed
affectionate warmth.
Renowned for his
many dreams ofBaba and
predictions ofthe breaking
of”The Silence”, although
now unable as Aloba
to be around to witness
the coming “Greatest of
All iVianifestations”, it
seemed somehow appro
: priate that Aloba’s passing
: was marked by the most
extraordinary sight of
breached floodgates and
bursting riverbanks ever
witnessed throughout
.

.

wedding ceremony led by Jal. We are so
thankftil for all the love we experienced with
the whole Meherabad and Meherazad family,
andwe are so veryinspiredby all thejoy, gaiety
and spontaneous generosity people brought to
our wedding celebration. Thank you.
Now while we were in India, we had no
definite plans where we would live when we
returned to the States. During one ofour last
visits with Aloba, he told us not to worry that
Baba would provide us with a home. That
is another miraculous story today we are
simply grateftil to be hosting weekly Baba
meetings in our home.
Aloba inspired us to live in faithbeyond the
reach of our minds. “without any question
ofwhy or what.”To us Aloba tenderly said of
love, “now you are tied together so you must
always yield to the other one. This way, the
stnng will not break.”
We had many more wonderfid moments
with Aloba on that trip—not knowing that
it would be our last hugs with our dearest
Aloba
.

.

.

.

...

TiLe EBus 2las 9one
3 ohn 13arker, London
us is going, going, gone to Baba, this
time with Au Akbar Shapurzaman,
Baba’s Aloba on board, wonder who it will
be tomorro you or me?
What one saw was what one got with
Aloba, a refteshinglyunsophisticated straight

B

central Europe.
The coincidence ofmajor world catastro
phes occurring frequentlywith each passing
of many of the Mandali, could lead one to
speculate that along with the great sanskaric
benefit released by each demise as stated by
Bhau, amongst others, there does appear to
be simultaneously a darkening ofthe Light,
a sudden increased expression oflatent dark
impressions, almost as if some protection
goes along with each Mandali member.
Strange Prasad. One recalls reading about
a vivid image ofMehera pleading with Baba
as Kalki not to draw his sword, the euphoric
atmosphere surrounding Mehera’s release
and union on one level, compared to the
collapse of the Berlin wall and the following disintegration ofthe USSR Soviet block,
resulting in some ofthe worst atrocities and
confficts seen in Europe since world war two.
With Eruch it was 9/11.
On a happier note, in remembrance of
Aloba, whilst perusing some footage taken
of Aloba’s lively talks at Meherabad and
Meherazad, one dream seemed to stand
out. Baba gave three matches to Aloba
and pointing to three people asked Aloba
to take a match to the first one and light
it, the match went out as Aloba handed it
over, same scenario again with the second
person, the third person turned out to be
none other than Baba’s own Mohammed
the Mast. This time the match stayed alight,
Mohammed received it from Aloba thereby
instantaneously creating a great explosion of
light. (Third light.)

Considering the immense long ranging unique role played by Mohammed,
reputably one of such a deeply influential
nature on both spiritual and material levels,
a declared most vital active participant in
Baba’s “Universal Work”, it surely therefore
must be plausible that this position may still
continue to be operating in all spheres of
illusion today. Given the present political
bogus international situation, and that one
quarter of the world population is Muslim,
with nearly all the recent major global
conflicts involving Muslim states, Aloba’s
dream may yet prove to be of some relative
significance.
Perhaps Mohammed’s bus ride will be
enlightening.
Quiz : Who said the following;
“Lj/è and death do not affect an ardent
worker and lover ofGod,for he who loves Goa
lives to die in His cause and abide in the One
who is Existence Infinite andEternal
.“

once asked Baba (internally) what would
happen in the Manifestation. What I was
shown exceeds the normal scope of dreams,
imagination, and conscious or subconscious
thought. Meher Baba’s life workis gloriously
flilfilled “beyond imagination and concep
tion.
We interpret personal and collective
experiences each in our own way. At least
as it applies to myself, I have every reason
to believe the future is revealed in fact or in
overall effect.This story is shared in the hope
it may be helpftil and relevant to others in
understanding their own experience.
The gap between the capacity of words
and the super-conscious reality of the
experience I had was too frustrating and
discouraged writing a credible account. But
not accurately recording and communicat
ing the most wonderfiul promise and most
serious warning of this message has been

I

Is

a burden of unfttliuled responsibility. I can
only try my best and leave the rest...
In 1979, trying to understand Baba’s
Manifestation, I became sick and tired
of my thinking. In a moment of sincere
renunciation and surrender born of wholehearted disgust with my mind, I thought,
“I give up! Show me!” Instantly, my mind
was stopped and I was given egoless bliss.
After awhile, I passed into a dream more
real than ‘reality’.
Still in the same blissftil state, but, now,
in the midst ofworldwide upheaval, I see an
overall view ofgeneral chaos and the acceler
ated deterioration ofconditions. All normal
aspects oflife fail, leaving only hopelessness,
helplessness, and desperation.
Natural disasters overwhelm nature and
the environment. Widespread conflicts pre
vail and political systems cannot keep order
or serve man’s needs. The world economy
bursts like a bubble, with financial, indus
trial, transportation, and communications
systems ceasing to function. There is no
food. Science, technology, and medicine
have no solutions. Social structure col
lapses on all levels. Religion offers nothing
against universal anxiety and desperation,
and normal human values are dominated by
fear driven panic and seffishness.
Our everyday world is exposed as tran
sient illusion, worthless, and useless. God’s
support that normally sustains the world no
longer holds back the storm-tide. A global
wave of ego and ignorance rises up, reaches
its peak, and breaks into the ultimate expres
sion of man’s selfish indulgence nuclear
cataclysm with many thousands of bombs
exploding everywhere. Utter hopelessness
and helplessness and universal despair
leave absolutely nothing left to cling to,
except God.
When facing death the last choice is to
seek God’s help, and onlywith the imminent
end oflife on earth is humanity atlarge ready
to receive and accept it. The climax ofglobal
catastrophe has set the stage. Baba reveals
Himselfuniversally, directly, and personally
to each individual as the Avatar, the One in
every heart.
In the greatest miracle ever, Baba takes
the immense destructive energy of the ex
ploding bombs and transforms it into Divine
light that wipes out ego-mind and purifies
the world. All-pervading light penetrates
everyone and everything to annihilate ego
limitations and mental impressions. Everyone, regardless of past life, personality or
spiritual development, is given freely and
unconditionally this most glorious and un
-

imaginable gift. It is the beginning ofa new
world and new life, for those who survive.
Nuclear bombs are going off everywhere,
but, incredibly, the world is saved from de
struction and there is no physical damage
or suffering. The ego and ignorance of the
world, not the world itself, are being de
stroyed. Liberated from mental bindings,
humanity experiences bliss, direct personal
contact with the source of truth, and the
power ofunlimited love.
The gift from God brings everyone 99%
of the way, but we must give the remaining
1% with 100% effort. To hold on to the bliss
and be able to live in this blissftil new world,
there is one condition. We must follow literally Baba’s simple instructions: “Don’t worry.
Be happy. Enjoy the Bliss. Rely on God for
everything.”
Each individual is given a huge push
along the spiritual path.The gift of advanced
consciousness gives tremendous motivation
and inspiration, but the ability to hold on to
it is dependent on one’s degree of prepara
tion. Iflove, remembrance, and longing for
God are not already established, the gift is
not appreciated, understood, and accepted.
Remaining impressions cause a reversion
into normal thought patterns, desires, and
behavior. Ifthe command is disobeyed in any
way by concerns with material needs or by
yielding to the demands ofthe mind, instead
of with God, we lose the bliss and do not
survive. Consciousness that still identifies
with the limited ego is wiped out along with
the universal cleansing of the ego-mind.
God’s hands are outstretched offering a
life of perfect bliss, the conscious experi
ence of an inconceivably beautiful state of
pure love, on one hand, and the tranquil
unconscious oblivion of the Beyond, on
the other. We are given a clear, absolute,
black and white choice that no one is fully
prepared for. There is no middle ground or
possibility ofcompromise. Reverting back to
normal consciousness is to lose the bliss, lose
consciousness and lose existence itself
It is necessary to walk a fiery sword edge
by obeying the command, “Don’t worry and
enjoy the bliss,” while surrounded by total
upheaval and the imminent threat offalling.
The desperate situation tempts the mind to
renew its hold on consciousness with concern over external conditions. Yielding to
the mind, like a short circuit, breaks the
connection to God and, simultaneously,
one’s connection with this New Life. To
survive requires holding on to Baba, and
nothing else.

The path is perfectly clear, balancing on
the slippery tightrope of divine consciousness while the limited mind, a loaded gun to
the head, can instantly destroy everything.
The ultimate drama is played out to the
end between bliss and fear, everything and
nothing, light and darkness, God and ego,
real life and real death, consciousness and
unconsciousness. The choice is completely
ours.
Those already trying to live a life of
longing for God, surrendering to His will
and enjoying His love, have the advantage
ofessential values and self—discipline to hold
on. But it is the miraculous gift ofbliss that
imparts to everyone the overwhelming
inspiration and heroic strength needed to
survive. Consciousness that still identifies
with ego attachments, in spite of the gift,
is annihilated along with the ego. It cannot
exist in an egoless world.
In a normal experience ofdeath the soul
retains its impressions and consciousness,
and moves on to identify with a new body.
This situation seems dramatically different.
Those who do not survive leave their bodies,
but there is no physical pain or suffering
because impressions and consciousness have
been extinguished as well.
Ego and bliss are mutually exclusive in
this new reality. The absence ofany possible
compromise or choice of a middle ground
seems shockingly harsh, yet is perfectly by
ing and natural. Everyone, consciously or
unconsciously, is united with God.
There is a sense of apocalyptic conse
quences of a failure to hold on. I am not
certain about this, but it felt possible that if
consciousness is lost, the soul may return to
the beginning to repeat the evolution of consciousness. As on the fourth plane, choosing
ego over God is a misuse and waste of our
tremendous new power and rejection of the
very purpose of this cycle of creation.
As the bombs are exploding I can feel
and see the light going right through me
and through everything, miraculously erasmg ego-mind and releasing consciousness to
experience God. We are not to look at the
bombs exploding. Like the biblical story of
Sodom and Gomorra, anyone who disobeys
and turns to look is instantly gone.
Many are angry, resentful, and blame
God for allowing the material world to cob—
lapse. But it is man’s overreaching ignorance
that has brought the world to the brink and
it is God’s grace that saves it. By choosing attachment for worldly values and ideas, those
who question or reject God’s dispensation
of truth can not survive.

There is no way to describe the incom
parable state ofuniversal peace and oneness.
I recall the screaming intensity of my feelings more than all the details. In the midst
of external crisis, the world is in the birth
pangs of a new life of love and joy, heaven
on earth. This life is eternal and there is the
promise we will live for a very long time to
enjoy it. I have greatly enhanced insight and
powers. I remember flying over the ocean to
India. I can see everyone’s soul shining like
the sun. Their body, mind, and personality
appear as a thin layer ofdust or veil over the
sun. Intensely beautiful light of the soul il
luminates through the veil from within.
With growing intuition oftruth I become
more comfortably established in this new
life, but there is still the immediate and
pressing need to obey and hold on without
thought or worry about anything. It all ends
when I see one ofmy daughters as an infant
asleep on a bed and think, “I hope she will be
all right, I hope she makes it through this.”
Instantly, my consciousness crashes and I
lose the bliss. I die and fall into the abyss of
unconsciousness, an inexpressible loss.
I had failed to obey 100%. My concern
for my child’s well being, the most natural,
loving, and unseffish act of a parent, is still
an act of the ego, identifying with what is
mine instead ofwith God.Worrying and not
trusting He would take care ofmy daughter
I have disobeyed His command. Like Dr.
Singh in the New Life, I cannot stay because
of a few tears of concern for my family.
Explosively, I awoke from the vision in
complete shock and terror from the sud
den loss ofbliss and fall into oblivion. The
apparent innocence of the circumstances
that caused my failure stunned me with a
realization of my lack of preparation and
understanding necessary to obey and hold on
to the gift. The inconceivable subtlety and
clarity of this lesson is convincing proof of
its source and validity The very real fear of
losing that blissful state shook me from com
placency with a most profound, yet gentle,
warning ofthe need to keep focused on God
or “curse the chance that is wasted.”
God’s ever-present love makes it easy
to feel one is safely in His pocket in spite of
our weaknesses. But how sincerely do we fol
low Baba’s call for literal obedience and how
seriously do we heed His constant warning
to “hold fast until the very end”? We are
like children being guided to maturit union
with God, but the Path is not child’s play.
I do not know whether this is a prophetic
revelation or a metaphorical personal insight.
Eitherway, it is compelling inspiration ofthe

desperately urgent need for remembrance
and love in the present life. It is a powerftil
wake-up call to prepare for the unprecedent
ed awakening that is planned, individually
and collectively, for all ofcreation. There are
awesome consequences ifwe do not.
The truth and reality of this experience
has not faded over the years. It has become more immediate to me by a growing
awareness that we are offered this gift every
moment, but are constantly rejecting it by
choosing worry over happiness and bliss, our
ego life over God. It may foretell an actual
universal event at some point in time, or
reveal a process that is happening all the
time, or both, the essential and inescapable
relationship between our present conduct
and spiritual destiny.
The errors and missed opportunities are
always forgiven and God’s offer is always
renewed, but not, perhaps, forever. Baba’s
Manifestation is the ultimate decisive conclusion that is renewed only in the cosmic
cycles of eternity.
The dilemma of telling this story, my
reason for procrastinating so many years, is
the obvious impossibility of communicating
with mere words, the gift ofbliss. Without
direct experience of that, the story is easily
and superficially misinterpreted as another
doomsday prediction of world destruction
that conveys negativity instead of optimism
and portrays an uncompassionate rather
than a loving God. The totally unexpected
and miraculous phenomenon of divine
intervention challenges comprehension. It
is the limited ego-mind and its attachment
to the world that will be destroyed, not the
world itself
Experiencing that bliss is so overwhelming, it makes the suffering and difficulties
of illusion vanish like a mist in the sun.
Everyone is given the chance to overcome
weaknesses and mental limitations to find
God. In the end, this is the only answer to
the problems of individual existence and of
humanity in general. With the potential
now for even one madman to use modern
technology to unleash worldwide devasta
tion, the world will not be able to survive if
there is ego. Seffishness and ignorance create
desperate circumstances and extreme conse
quences, which, in turn, are the motivation
to be ready to accept and benefit from the
cure. Baba teaches that the infinite experi
ence ofdivine consciousness is the opposite
of limited ego consciousness and they are
mutually exclusive without possibility of
compromise. What I saw is the application

of that fact in a real life context, a tangible
warning of the need to prepare for this new
life by living it now, a plea to surrender ig
norance for knowledge.
I am not in a position either to justify or
question this, it just happened, and I feel
Baba wants the experience to be shared
accurately and honestly. It is a warning to
prepare, and a promise that the extraordi
nary help of the gift oflove will give us the
strength to hold on, ifwe really want a new
life oflove and bliss. Please forgive my inability to convey that, if this story commu
nicates fear or hopelessness instead of hope.
It is a reminder to love and remember Him
more and more and still yet more, to hold
fast until the very end, to rely only on God,
to be happy and not to worry. So easy to say,
so difficult to practice, but which can lead
us to the Goal ifwe do.
Please contact me with your comments
or questions. It helps me very much to un
derstand this better. Jim Auster, Box 716,
Carbondale, CO 81623, phone 970-9295505 or jimauster@hotmail.com
[The LampPost invites your discussion
in these pages ifyou feel so moved.]
Meherazad, 1 Oct. 98
Dear Jim Auster,
LovingJai Baba to you.A thousand thanks
to you for your wonderful dream. I salute your
love and faith for Baba and in Baba’s Avatarhood. All what you have seen and wrote in
your letter of22 September ‘98 are true and
100% fact, because in 1941 when I was at
Bombay, Meherbaba on my request, showed
me in dream those scenes closely connected
with His silence break and His manifestation.
I appreciate 100%, I believe 100%, I agree
with you 100%. Thank you Meherbaba for
selecting Jim Auster to show the most im
portant dream ofyour silence-break and your
manifestation all over the world. Please read
Ann Smith’s dream sent to you with this letter. This, your very important dream, should
reach Baba lover’s hands as much as you can,
as much as possible, as many Baba centers as
possible. Also I am enclosing Baba’s Circular
th
of March 15
1941 from Bangalore with
revised dates Baba appeared in my dream
and directed me to do so. I send to 70 Baba
Centers in India, 10 forUSA, also to Canada,
Iran, England and Australia each place, one
to be xeroxed and make many copies. Dear
J im Auster I eagerly looking forward to see
you, to meet you and to embrace you here
when you come. May Meherbaba expedite
your coming my dear Jim Auster. You are
a great Baba lover, a firm Baba Believer,
—

—

‘7

therefore Meherbaba selected you. To you,
GOD means Meherbaba, and Meherbaba is
Godwith a human form called Meherbaba.
Once again, I salute your love and faith in
Meherbaba. Avatar Meherbaba kiJai. with
love, Aloba
—

:&5

r

••

••

And now, the letterfrom Ann Smith that
Aloba sent on to Jim:
During 1978, while sleeping in the cabin
where Ted and Janet Judson now live in
Lower Meherabad, Ann Smith had a vivid
dream which she later told to Mehera, who
said itwas an important dream and should be
told to as many Baba lovers as possible.
She was walking in the streets of Mel—
bourne, Australia (her home city) with her
daughter Chanthan. Suddenly there was a
loud noise like the roar of a thousand large
aeroplanes. Itwas deafening and frightening.
People in the street began to panic and scream
and run in every direction there was utter
chaos! Into her mind came “Baba must have
said the Word, broken His Silence what
do we do now?” She told her daughter not to
be afraid then turned around and noticed a
beautiful woman with a peaceftil face stand—
ing beside them, smiling at them. “Who are
you?” she asked. “Don’t be afraid, I’m from
Baba” Ann realized she was an angel. The
angel told her she would take care of them.
“What about my husband Paul?” She asked.
“Don’t worry, there are many ofus, he is being looked after too, like all the others.” Ann
was reassured. The rest ofthe people still ran
about in utter confitsion.
“What do we do?” Ann asked the angeL
“Just turn your face to the East” said the
Angel.
They did this and were instantly trans
ported to the foot of the hill at Meherabad,
joining thousands of other Baba lovers who
were all gazing in rapture toward the Tomb
from which light emanated. All hearts rose as
one injoyftul expectation as Babawas about to
manifest. The feeling was indescribable.
She woke up.
—

—

4
j
r

PhGto credits in Memories ofAloba
page 1O—Alob3in Meherazad taken

A:a4

page l5—Alobper unknown

Pimpalgaon, on the evening of Feb
ruary 24th, 1948, after returning rom
Ahmednagar, Baba was discussing matters
with the men mandali. In the course of
conversation, the subject of Baba’s mani
festation came up and Baba asked those
present, “What do you think constitutes one
hundred percent proof of my manifestation
as the Avatar?” No one said a word.
“You men say that the time ofmyAvataric
manifestation, mankind will receive a shock
like an earthquake and I will appear at dif
ferent places in my physical form. But such
ideas do not prove the Avatar’s manifestation
100%. In the Avatar is contained the whole
creation. All the lives contained in the world
are like his limbs. If a scorpion stings a man
on one part ofhis body, the brain immediately
knows it and pain is felt throughout the body.
Similarly, when the Avatar will sting (mani
fest), every life sustained in creation will feel
it. Thus, the Avatar’s presence on this (gross)
plane and the scorpion’s sting (manifestation)
will be experienced by all.
“If the sun were to shine twenty-four
hours a day and there was no darkness, the
presence of the sun would not be recog
nized, unless there was complete darkness
once. The rising of the sun consequent to
darkness would make humanity appreciate
the presence of the sun. The dark night is
signified by the scorpion’s sting.
Thinking ofpralaya, Ghani interjected:
“Darkness may also mean mass annihilation
and dissolution of the world!”
Baba laughed, “You all remember this
subject of dissolution!”
Continuing Baba spelled out, “After the
Avatar’s manifestation, humanitywill receive

A

the Light in different degrees proportionate
to each ones’ receptivity. Those out in the
open will experience the fuilhight ofthe sun,
those holding umbrellas over their heads will
receive less, and those who remain closeted
in their houses will get even less. This means
that those who keep themselves shut up in
the houses of their desires, will receive the
least Light; those who, though out in the
open, hold an umbrella over their head
—refuse to open their heart to God—will
receive less; and those ofpure desires and an
open heart, will experience the full brilliance
of the Avatar’s coming!”
“Will we experience the Light or not?”
Ghani asked.
In cryptic fashion, Baba jokingly replied,
“Look at the ways ofyour Avatar! Although
I stay in Ahmednagar during the day, I go all
the way back to Pimpalgaon for the night. If
you can grasp this, you will get the Light!”
LordMeher, vol 7 and 8, preface.

3:
JJI4eher 13aba
en I say I am the Avatar, there are
a few who feel happy, some who feel
shocked, and many who hearing me claim
this, would take me for a hypocrite, a fraud,
a supreme egoist, or just mad.
If I were to say every one of you is an
Avatar a few would be tickled, and many
would consider it blasphemy or ajoke. The
fact that God being One, Indivisible, and
equally in us all—that we can be naught
else but one—is too much for the dualityconscious mind to accept.
Yet in each of us is what the other is. I
know I am the Avatar in every sense of the
word, and that each of you is an Avatar in
one sense or the other. It is an unalterable
and universally recognized fact since time
immemorial that God knows everything,
God does everything, and that nothing happens but by the Will of God. Therefore, it
is God who makes Me say I am the Avatar,
and that each one ofyou is an Avatar. Again,
it is He Who is tickled through some, and
through others is shocked. It is God Who
acts, and God Who reacts. It is He Who
scoffs and He Who responds. He is the
Creator, the Producer, the Actor and the
Audience in His own Divine Play.
LordMeher, vol 13 and 14 p 4423, Bhau Kal
churi. Copyright Manifestation 1998.

:nt to
owwill it all end? That’s a question that
anyone may be driven to ask today, and
that includes Baba lovers as well. As we shall
soon see, Baba himself asked that question.
But being God, He had the answer (and was
the answer). However, also being Baba, we
as yet don’t know for sure what that answer
is. Only time will unfurl it for us. But Baba’s
answer, which really seems to be answers,
gives us several possible outcomes of this
time of his advent.
Why do I say several possible outcomes?
Why not an infinity ofoutcomes, or no outcomes at all? Because Baba, as well as some of
his Mandali and closest followers, have given
us some specific descriptions and implications
as to the course this advent may follow. As
Baba has told us, advents come at particu
lar times in history and aim to accomplish
particular purposes. It is certainly in order to
look to Baba’s words to give us a perspective
on the nature of these times that we live in
and where, under Baba’s direction, it may be
going. Even if the paths divide into at least
three. It was not for nothing that Baba refered
to the coming course of history
The first of these paths or scenarios we
can call the naturalistic one. Humanity grows
increasingly desperate. It is here Baba himself
asks the question. He says, “What will the
present chaos lead to?” And then specifically,
“How will it all end?” He gives the answer, “It
can only end in one way: Mankind will become sickofit all. Man will be sick ofwanting
and sick offighting out ofhatred. Greed and
hatred will reach such intensity that everyone
will become weary of them. The way out of
the deadlock is sefflessness.”l In another place
Baba describes this historical process in the
following way, “The wave ofdestruction must
rise still higher, must spread still further. But
when, from the depths ofhis heart, man de
sires something more lasting than wealth, and
something more real than material power, the
wave will recede, Then peace will come, joy
will come, light will come.”
2
I call this the naturalistic scenario because
all ofthe above can happen in a natural way
without any obvious divine intervention.
Baba’s words that I have just quoted would
seem to point to this.
It is this naturalistic scenario that I use in
mywriting about economics and social change.
I talk about the need for society to “wake up”
from its present plight and change its ways.
I talk about the problem of self interest and

H

..omc: 7Jee 5cctuirws
2<cuncth Lw; lI1aine

suggest ways in which we can go from self
interest to the common good. I posit that
his may happen after a sufficient degree of
desperateness about our present course is
reached.
The second scenario is “the hole in the &st
door,” and it is not naturalistic. It comes directly from the “points” Bhau said Baba gave
him in 1967, which Bhau has reproduced in
Avatar of the Age Meher Baba Manifest3 and which Bhau has elaborated on.The
ing,
points are as follows:
“My abode is infinite. it is formless...
But there are seven doors in my abode. each
door remains closed to all those bound in fflu
sion. The aim ofinvolution is to open these
seven doors to experience my Infinity
“The first door is extremelydifficult to open
.All the kingdoms ofevolution stand at this
door
Humanity has its back to this door
all faces are turned toward illusion. .Hu
manity is the nearest kingdom to this door.
“I come to open these seven doors. I
work to cut a hole in the first door. That
door leads to the first plane. This cutting
is my work during my lifetime.”
In Bhau’s elaboration of these points he
says the following: “Ifthe Avatar did not cut
this hole, it would not be possible for mdividuals to find the entrance into involution.
Though it has aireadybeen cut, the hole does
not open until after the Avatar has dropped
his body. When the preparations for the
opening ofthe hole are complete, the Avatar
sets the time for the hole to open, and then
drops his body. When the hole is opened,
light from the domain of pure energy ema
nates into the gross world. As soon as the hole
is opened and the light is emanating through
it, humanity becomes overpowered with joy
from seeing the light. it irresistibly faces the
light and turns away from illusion.”
I propose that the transition from reason
to intuition that Baba has referred to is a new
mode ofconsciousness that will operate with
the hole open in the first door that is the
barrier to the subtle world. I would say that
intuition is involved here, rather than direct
experience of the subtle world, because even
though there will be an open hole to the ftrst
plane of the subtle world, the door itself is
still not open. This would seem to mean that
humanity is still left in the gross world; to
be on the planes the individual would have
to open the whole door and go through it.
. .

. .

. .

. .

.

.

.

. . .

.

. .

. .

. .

But even withjust a hole opened in the first
door humanity would have a great and world
saving advantage that it didiñ have before.
While still in the gross world, it would have
the direct radiation from the first plane casting its light into the gross. This would give
humanity a clear and easily accessible beam
(literally) into the source ofall light.
This account also gives us a possible answer to the “mystery” ofBaba having dealt so
much with the planes. It’s a mystery because,
while Baba described and referred to the
planes extensively in bothThe Discourses and
in God Speaks, He completely discounted
them and gave them no significance in the
lives ofhis lovers. Under Baba’s mastership his
lovers had no experiences ofthe planes (with
the rarest of exceptions) and were dissuaded
by him of having any concern or interest in
them, despite his extensive discussion ofthem
in his messages and books.
The answer to the mystery is that when
the hole to the first door is opened, we will
then understand why Baba told us so much
about the planes. It is then that we will have
a direct experience related to the planes, but
in the unique way of not actually being on
the planes (the first plane, in this case), but
experiencing the light or energy of the first
plane in the gross world. This also will be
something that has never happened before
in human history. I am thus proposing that
Baba told us so much about the planes because He was preparing us for understanding
the experience we would have, in terms ofits
meaning and significance, when the hole in
the first door was opened.
This scenario gives us a way ofseeing how
Baba’s work will usher humanity into a new
era where our overwhelming problems can and
will be overcome. With the availability of this
new energy in the gross world (“geared to a
new rate of energy”) that is accessed through
the faculty of intuition, humanity will have
the tool it needs to make “the further spiritual
advance ofhumanity safe and steady”
The third scenario I would describe as both
natural and also supernatural. I will call it the
“Mahapralya” scenario.The naturalpart is that
humanity does not “wake up,” as they do in
the first scenario. That is, humanity continues
on its profligate and destructive ways, and the
earth becomes uninhabitable (perhaps either
through environmental destruction, nuclear
war, or some combination ofthe two).
What is to Come continued on pg37

‘9

,)4:f ii.::::

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al: 7frjj: ,)/jO4flj

Ray 3ohnston, J
1/kher J44ount California
7

O

April 20th the new caretakers at Meher Mount in Ojai, California officially
opened the doors for the first time to wel
come visitors. Ray Johnston and Elizabeth
Arnold accepted the position several weeks
earlier while in the Yucatan, Mexico, where
Ray was conducting
workshops.
In addition to
providing energetic
healing sessions to
clients and conducting personal growth
workshops around
the world, Ray is
also owner of a tour
company specializing in world tours
of self-discovery His
expertise is in East
African natural and
cultural history (where
he lived and worked in
1979) and in Mexico
and the Southwestern
U.S. For 20 years he
was a park ranger and
Superintendent in the
North Carolina state
park system and retired in 1996. In these
“out ofthe way” areas he learned many of the
skills that he feels will benefit Meher Mount.
“My background is in resource management,
but living in remote areas one has to learn
a variety of management and maintenance
skills.” His love for and connection to nature
and Meher Baba, plus the suggestion of a
good friend in North Carolina, was what
first brought him to Meher Mount.
“Elizabeth and I moved to Ojai last year.
I had been traveling almost constantly for
6 years conducting tours and giving healing seminars around the world. I had always
wanted to live in Ojai after first visiting it in
1972, and I needed a home. The energy and
beauty drew me. Once in Ojai, my friend
J ohn Freeze in North Carolina suggested
that I visit Sulphur Mountain and Meher
Mount after we had spent time together at
the center in Myrtle Beach. I then made
regular trips to Meher Mount to meditate
and visit the previous caretakers Billy and
Pamela Goodrum.”My connection to Baba
began in 1972 with reading the Discourses

and Listen Humanity In 1975 I attended
a talk at UCSB given by a young man just
returned from Meherabad. He had with him
a few articles by Baba. As the small group
left the room, I was turned around at the
door by an inner force, and I found myselfat

the table lifting Baba’s sadra to my chest and
heart. I experienced an energetic opening
that was very powerftul for a couple of days.
Baba has since that time been a consistently
powerftil part of my own personal healing,
transformation, and guidance. My initial
hesitancy to apply for the caretaker posi
tion was cleared by Baba’s reassurance one
morning under His tree on the property
Elizabeth was immediately struck by the
beauty and energy ofMeher Mount.
She was born in Arlington, Virginia, and
studied abroad in Oxford, England and trayeled throughout Europe. With a Bachelor
ofArts in Psychology from George Mason
University in Fairfax, Virginia, Elizabeth’s
professional background includes management, marketing and public relations. She
grew up on Ocracoke Island, where her fam
ily resides. Located on the Outer Banks of
North Carolina, Ocracoke is only accessible
by plane or boat and most of the Island is
preserved as National Seashore.
“We are always surprised and heartened
by the support ofthose who understand the

particular challenge of living as caretakers
at Meher Mount” explains Ray. “The first
couple ofmonths were very difficult getting
acclimated and doing water system repairs. I
had asked and prayed for a message concerning the challenges ofbeing at Meher Mount.
Shortly thereafter
a friend from
Phoenix came
to visit. It was in
1972 that he had
introduced me to
Listen Humanity
as we drove across
the US, eventually
coming to Ojai.
Unknown to me,
he had copied
on an index card
some words from
the book that
struck him and
put it inside the
pages.
These
words remained
on the index card,
hidden within the
pages of Listen
Humanity for ex
actly 30 years to the month when my friend
came to visit us at Meher Mount for the first
timelastJune. Havingbrought the same book
to read once again after 30 years, out falls the
card with the message that turned out to be
my answer:
“Know that this house can be useful
only to those who recognize their nothingness and who believe in the possibility of
changing”.
According to Elizabeth, “One of the
benefits ofbeing at Meher Mount is seeing
individuals change as they visit. The stress
oftheir dailylife drops away as they glimpse
the magnitude ofwhat Meher Mount offers.
The panoramic mountain views, the Baba
Tree, the shrine at the site of the guest
house where Baba visited, all contribute to
creating a very special place. Agnes Baron’s
vision and Baba’s essence affects all visitors
on some level, including us. Being here for
even a short visit is transformational. Come
visit us. We would love to see you.”

0

EI3abies, i3ctbies, J3abies!
ere are the stories of two new Baba
souls that have entered into this life, to
share theirlove andjoywith two very happy
sets of parents.
The first story we get from Meherwan
and Molly Irani. Meherwan is Dara and
Amrit’s son, (Dara being one of Baba’s
nephews) and Molly, the daughter of Roz
Taubman (the superb chef at Meherana).
Meherwan tells us the story:

H

Aria Meher Irani
he was born on April 29th (which was
our wedding day it was the Baba sign
we were looking for). We met her, along with
4 other babies, at SOFOSH (the orphanage
at Sasoon Hospital where Baba was born),
on Monday Sept. 2nd (the day we arrived
from the US). It was love at first sight and
: although we wereconcerned about her
2 extremely low birth weight and bad chest
infection, we felt that a few days in an Irani
household would fix the weight problem!
:We took her into foster care on the 3ft,
•E
and her first new home was Baba’s childhood home Pumpkin House. We also went
to Baba’s Room and there Penn Aunty and
grandmother Subdhra officially chris:. my
tened
her as Aria Meher Irani.
From there we drove straight to Meherabad and laid her back down at Baba’s
feet. Then the next day, when she met the
Mandali at Meherazad, it was definitely a
reunion of old friends. She laughed, smiled
and generally speakingwas delighted to meet
everyone. We are absolutely in love with her
and thank Baba everyday that she is a part
of our family. People keep commenting on
how lucky she is to come into our family, but
we both feel that we are the lucky ones and
have been blessed with her.

S

.

‘

.

-

—

Benjamin Kiser Goodrum
e was born on July 9th, just
one hour and 6 minutes before
Silence Day. Pamela and Billy Goo
drum had wanted a homebirth, and
after some research, we decided that
a water birth would be a most gentle
and peaceftil way for our baby to re
enter the world. Frederik Leboyer,
author of Birth Without Violence,
developed the practice of delivering
babies under water as a way of gen
tly easing the painful transition from
the mother’s womb. The practice of
water birth was pioneered by French
doctor Michel Odent as a means of
providing relaxation during labor. He
believed birthing mothers should be allowed
freedom of movement with nothing to dis
turb the natural process of labor.

H

-

Aria Meher Irani

Announcements continued on pg 43

Baby Benjamin’s labor was easy. It was
made more enjoyable by being in our bedroom, listening to Paul
Horn’s flute music
recorded in the Taj Mahal, with fresh flowers
and candles burning,
and a beautiflul photo of
Beloved Baba beaming
down on us. In the pool,
it was comfortably easy
to stretch, move, squat
and push. An hour
after stepping into the
birthing tub, Ben came
peacefiffly out from the
wateryplace within, into
the warm tub, and was
then gently lifted onto
momma’s chest. He

Arnavaz with Aria

remained there for a few moments, floating
and gently stretching out his chubby limbs,
meeting his new family.
There was a palpable serenity
about his birth, he didn’t cry at all,
and immediately opened his eyes
and began to calmly look around.
We like to think his focus was on
Baba. Our hearts were certainly
filled with His presence. In his
message to us the following day,
Bhau said Benjamin was blessed
to have been born on the anniver
sary of the last day that Beloved
Baba ever spoke.
Two midwives, Pamela’s
mother, and big sister Annabelle
attended what was a most joyful
experience.

Billy, Benjamin, Pamela andAnnabella Goothum
21

Dina

&orics of the Ji4eiter English &lwo!,
cA4ehembad
Snow

twas their eyes
that got me.
Sparkling, joyous,
open, friendly,
and above all,
welcoming.
What a change
from a few years
ago! Stella told
me that when
she first took
over, the children
were very shy and
wouldn’t look
you in the eye.
When a Westerner showed up
at the school, not
a frequent
currence 5 years
ago, they were
not only shy, but
also intimidated!
They felt they had done something wrong
and The Big White Man was coming to
punish them.
What a difference one lady can make
—with Baba’s help of course! The changes
Stella has wrought in this school are noth
ing short of miraculous. She told me that
when the subject ofher taking over the job
of running this school was broached, she
thought to herself “First I will go see it. If
it is clean and well run, they don’t need me.
I shall continue on to Canada.” So Bhau
took her out to see the school. Stella was
both horrified and overjoyed: This school
needed her—and needed her badly! The
children were dressed in raggedy clothes,
barefoot and dirtyc One ofthe school inspec
tors whose job it was to travel Maharashtra
State, visiting all the schools and then rating
them
filing a report to the Government
rated it as one ofthe dirtiest in the State.
J ust five years later it was noted as the cleanest in the Ahmednagar District and one of
the cleanest in the State.
The children present beautifhlly they
are all dressed in very attractive uniforms
that look brand new. The junior school
wears red shorts and skirts and the seniors
wear purple trousers and skirts with laven

I

—

—

—

22

!. have items for sale
that the children
have made. Rest
j assured the Love
Street Bookstore
will be stocking
them!
room
One
we were shown
was completely
empty “That will
be the Computer
Science room for
the older stu
dents, when we
get the donations
to stock it with
computers.”
Filled with an
evangelistic fer
your, I thought
then and there,
I have to get the
word out! I have to tell ;ople how fabu
bus this school is, how much work Stella
is doing! How much help is needed both
financially and physically.
There is a growing number ofWesterners
I have noticed who, dissatisfied with living
in the midst ofMaya, have chosen to spend
a few months of every year in India, (if not
the whole year) working in the midst of
Baba’s love.
How incredibly rewarding this is. What
joy these people feel in contributing their
talents to something so worthwhile. Baba
has told us that “Real Happiness Lies in
Making Others Happy”. In my experience
this is oh so true! Share thejoy! Make plans
to visit the school next time you are in Meherabad. Visit it just once and I guarantee
you will want to help. There is an extremely
low fee charged to the parents for the school
year the books and the uniforms. But no
child is turned away. If the parents have
no mone that is where the Trust steps in.
That is where you can step in too. Send a
tax deductible donation to one of the five
Centers in the US that can accept them,
the LA Center being one of them, and if
you are so moved, specify it for the Meher
English School.

I

:

der shirts. Noting Stella’s beautiftul lavender
sari I asked with a grin “Did you choose the
colours?” “Yes,” she laughed.
Everywhere I looked immaculate! Not
a wisp ofpaperblowing about the huge quad,
no scraps on the walkways around it; classrooms spotless.
As Stella, Suzie and I visited each classroom, the children stood as one, “Good
Morning Miss” they all chanted with happy
smiles. When we would see them outside
the classroom, we were always greeted with
a very happy “Jai Baba!” They are now well
used to seeing Westerners there. As more
and more pilgrims find out about this
school, they visit it, fall in love with it, and
feel compelled to volunteer whatever they
can. Suzie Biddu, with her classic English
accent, spends a few days a week helping
the children with conversational English.
Who better?! Some come to help with the
art and crafts, read stories to the little ones,
help in the Library or simply be a Teacher’s
Aid. Stella tells me she is providing classes
to teach the older children various crafts,
basket weaving, embroidery, pottery anything she can find teachers to teach that will
benefit the children in theirlives, either now
or when they leave school. Soon they will
—

—

—

Sue Biddu, London
route to Ahmednagar last October
to visit the Pilgrim Centre forjust one
night I suddenly panicked. I was with my
brother Richard and daughter Zaza, Richard
was visiting India for only six days and it had
taken a lot of persuasion on my part to get
him to spend that one night at the PC. In
the end, I think it was the desire to see where
his sister disappeared to every winter that
got the better of him. Nevertheless, I was
worried about his reaction to the pilgrims
and the PC. (At this point, “Don’t worry be
happy” was very far from my mind.) Richard
is a businessman with very little tolerance
for New Age airy-fairy stuff that was, in
his opinion, something nice but misguided
people got into. He had also shown very little
interest in Meher Baba, hence my anxiety;
but being a generous and big-hearted person, he could understand charity and service.
So it occurred to me, I should take him to
the Meher English School.
After registering at the Trust Office in
Ahmednagar, we sped (exaggeration) past
the Pilgrim Centre and up the dust track to
the school. Having only visited there twice
before, I didn’t realize, due to the intense
heat, that the children left the premises at
2 o’clock, so on our arrival it was very quiet.
We walked up the steps and under the stone
arch with the lettering, Avatar Meher Baba
English School. Suddenly Baba was everywhere. His presence was tangible. We stood
on the wide veranda surrounding the square
courtyard that was edged by dozens of pots
filled with plants and flowers. As we were
taking the peace and beauty in, a woman
came towards us with a bright pink sari, a
wonderftil welcoming smile on her face and
introduced herselfas Stella, the headmistress
of the school. I was to understand in time,
that Baba always finds the perfect person to
do His work. Stella offered to take us around
and show us the facilities and classrooms.
Just like everything the Trust finances and
Tedjudson builds, it had that unmistakable
feeling ofMeher Baba.
We started at Stella’s office and as we
walked around, Baba was smiling at us
from every wall. Each blackboard in the
classrooms had His words and discourses
written on them. The science laboratory was
a revelation, as was the computer room. The
library was a little haven. Everywhere was
spotlessly clean, and Stella’s enthusiasm for
the school and love for the pupils, shone
through. I made up my mind, there-andthen, that this hidden treasure of-the Trust’s

E

work in Baba’s name would be a place that I
would visit on a regular basis, taking other
pilgrims with me. I realised so few knew
about this school. I just loved the whole
atmosphere. Needless to say Richard and
Zaza felt the same way, so much so that
Richard gave a donation towards their new
sports facilities. Over supper that night he
turned to me and said, “Now that, I can
understand.”
When I returned to Meherabad a week
later I started to organize groups ofnew and
old pilgrims to visit the school. (One such
visitor was Sue Chapman, who has also
written her story here.) Stella and I became
friends—my admiration for the care she administered to her staff and pupils, and her
passion to really make the Meher School a
place oflove and excellence, really impressed
me. I kept thinking how lucky the children
were to have such a person in their lives, who
truly cares. I learned about the difficulties
entailed in keeping the school going in such
an inhospitable climate, where an English
school would not be the first choice for
many families. I learned about the deprived
background these children came from and
the terrible adversities that make up their
lives. Stella likes to take the very poorest
of children, who are so eager to do better
against all the odds.
Every time I entered that arch, my heart
would swell with pride that such a school
existed in His name. Having spent time in
schools and institutions throughout India,
I realized that this school was very special.
Established in 1986 there were just 194
pupils in 1997. Now there are 452 aged
between three and sixteen years of age and
a fhrther 100 on the waiting list for entrance
this year. Stella says that she will fit them
all in. There are three buses supplied by the
Trust, which bring the children from as far
as 14 miles away each day. The fees are 320
rupees (approximately 8 dollars) a year. For
those who cannot afford to pay, the Trust
covers for them. All children get computer
lessons (almost unheard of in a village
charitable school). There are 26 dedicated
teachers, a physical fitness instructor, and
an arts and crafts room. All children get free
dentistry and medical care. The exam results
are improving each year. In India, education
is everything. The only way one can improve
ones life, and that ofthe family, is education.
This year a home economics class will start
to help those girls that are unable to go onto
fttrther education. They will learn to make
craft items that could be sold to the pilgrims
and make it a self-financing project. More

sports facilities will be built as ftsnds come
in. As the home lives ofmost ofthe children
are very difficult, Stella likes to keep them at
school for as long as possible. Starting this
year for three afternoons a week, it will be
possible for anyone who has a skill to share it
with the children. In the past, some pilgrims
have done this and of course, every one of
you who donates to the Trust helps.
Our regular visits, on Mondays and sometimes on Fridays, were such a pleasure. Ev
erybody who visited for the first time was
moved and surprised that such an excellent
establishment existed on the doorsteps ofthe
Pilgrim Centre. Stella said that the children
were so happy when we visited the classrooms; it made them feel special. Last year,
The Avatar Meher Baba School won the
award for the cleanest school in the area, and
has been entered as the cleanest school in
the state. Under the guidance ofthe teachers
and the generosity of the Trust, this school
could be a model for ftsture schools in India.
However, for me the school is much, much
more. These bright, beautiful, eager, lively
children are having the unique experience of
His presence, His divinity, and His guidance,
from the tender age of three. I believe that
here are His ftsture lovers and workers. Who
knows, they may grow up into adults who
will be the doctors, nurses, electricians, water
workers, tax inspectors, teachers, caretakers
of his Samadhi, and ftiture Trust workers.
All is possible. Of course, there are many
problems to overcome. The critical shortage ofwater is an immediate problem, and
finances are needed to carry on all the pres
ent and future Trust work. The Avatar can
with his love, help, and guidance overcome
all obstacles and difficulties. Sometimes He
mayjust want to give us the opportunity to
help Him...

Sue Chapman, London
was approximately four years ago that
Stella Manuel took over as Principal of
the Meher English School and she has
achieved amazing results in that brief time.
On a recent visit to India I had the op
portunity ofjoining a visiting party to the
school, and then later sitting and chatting
with her at some length about her vision
for its future.
Meher English School is blossomingliterally. For as you enter you notice the
gardens to the front and within the inner
courtyard fulled with flowers, drip-watered
careftully by a system devised from used plas
tic water bottles from the Pilgrim Centre.

I

Continued onpg 30
23

1

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—

azrat Duagat 2<han
l2
“On the education ofchildren
depends thefttu.re ofnations. To
consider the education ofchildren
is to prepare for future generations.The heart ofthe child is like
a photographic plate without any
impressions on it, ready to reflect
all that j is .exposcd to..
Education: is .a qualification
for a fuller life, a•.:lifè of thought
for oneself nd of consideration
for others. Education is that
which gradually expands. the
knowledge ofonese]fand ofones’
surroundings; the knowledge of
others, those known to us and
those unknown. .the knowledge
of the conditions of human na
ture and of:life¼ demands; and
the knowledge of cause and
effect, which lea4s in the end
to the knowledgeø of the world
withm and without
. .

IVieher School Girls’
Cboruspeifbrming at
Amarfithi Celebration,
January 2tN2.

.

29
aa

Baba pictures and quotes cover the walls
of entranceways and classrooms and the
children present cheerfully in their senior
purple, andjunior red uniforms. The school
achieved the notable award ofthe cleanest in
Maharashtra state last year. But it is not only
presentation that Stella aspires to.
Stella is passionate about the children.
She takes those from the very poorest
families in and around Arangaon, mak
ing personal visits to families to persuade
parents who would not prioritise educa
tion, especially for their female children,
that they will benefit from attending her
school. Some are bussed in from outlying
areas and they come willingly. They are assisted with uniforms and school meals and
the cost oftheir education is fttnded through
the Trust. In the last academic year most of
the children graduated on to the College
in Ahmednagar unimaginable just a few
years ago. Within the school Stella is rais
ing standards at every level, encouraging not
only the academic attainment of children,
but promoting a number of practical trade
skills to determine the fttture employment
ofher students. These practical tasks include
learning repair and construction skills, sewrng and cookery and some goods are already
being produced for sale.
Stella’s deepest concern is for the girls.
She explained to me that traditionally they
begin having children around age fourteen,
often experiencing a number ofmiscarriages,
and typically by theirlate teens may have up
to three children to raise. Sometimes there
is no supportive father and some are forced
to turn to prostitution. With education or
a craft skill she envisages them becoming
self-determining and hopes for a better
future for them.
Recent years have seen the reftirbishment
ofclassrooms and the construction ofa new
science laboratory and computer suite. As
yet resources have not been sufficient to
make these areas fully operational. There
is also a large space, as yet unallocated,
that Stella would like to see become an arts
and crafts production area. She has fifteen
trained teachers and some ancillary support
staffwho are all enthusiastically behind her
in her vision. This is one of the many Trust
projects that I felt people might be interested
to know more about. It was deeply touching to see Stella bring a large group of over
fifty students to sing at Baba’s Amartithi
celebration this year and to witness the joy
it brought to the Mandali to see this aspect
ofBaba’s work ‘flourishing’ in Meherabad.

:1kw :ie Drcw inc into
ra4ise of ‘Divinc
2
2/is a
i:
Stellct J’VIaiiucI, J4lcherctbad
east did I know that you wanted to sow
our Divine Love in me to glo to radiate
your show. Humbly I bo sincerely I vow To
work only for thee and your servant to be!”
Dear Friends,
He has His own ways, He has designed
a wonderftil pattern for each one ofus. He
has carved each one’s name on the palm, and
calls each one ofus by our name.
I was a student of a renowned Convent
Schoolin Ahmednagar. I finished mygradu
ation, Post Graduation and my Professional
Teaching Courses through the Pune Uni
versity I then started my Research work in
the rural areas ofAhmednagar working with
the village school children. Since it is very
hot from mid April to midjune, the schools
close down
During this period a few of us gathered
together to run a Summer Camp for the
poor and the street children, who have
nothing to do when the schools are closed.
We engaged the children from morning to
evening with games, trips, English classes,
party games etc. But for doing so we had
to collect at least some amount of money
from the people.
1995 was the first year I went to the
Avatar Meher Baba Trust for a donation
for my summer club children. Since I knew
only Mrs. Raj Kalchuri, I approached her
for a donation (as her children were in my
school.) She took me to meet the Chairman,
Bhauji Kalchuri and he gave me a donation
ofone thousand rupees for the cause. I was
extremely happy to meet him for the first
time. So from then on I kept going for every
summer camp programme I organised.
But in 1997 I had completed all my
education and I applied to do my PhD
in Canada. Luckily I got my admission to
Macgill University in Canada and was supposed to go to Canada in September. I still
remember what happened: as I was in the
Trust office; Alobaji crossed by and gestured
to meet me in the prayer hall, and so I did.
As we conversed for the first time, he told
me point blank that I would not be going
toMacgill but would join them to work in
their organisation.
Really speaking, I didn’t take him seri
ously, because I was already a permanent
teacher in a well reputed Government

Ste/la A’Iaiziie/

aided Convent school. So as usual I met the
Chairman for my donation and walked away.
But after that meeting I was very restless, and
I didn’t know why.
Right enough, in September 1997 Mrs. Raj
Kalchuri asked me if I would take over the
Meher English School since the SSC results
were zero percent! I was not seriously considering it, but thought I wouldjust visit the
Samadhi, since I heard so much about Meher
Baba from the Chairman. So that same day I
went to the Samadhi. I felt very comfortable
there, like being in awonderftil chapelwith the
face and picture ofChristyou see upon entering. This ftrst visit was enough to change my
mind
to resign from myjob where I was a
permanent teacher drawing a handsome salary
There was no fear, no regret. I experienced an
inner strength to carry on the work that was
assigned to me by Him. When I took over as
HeadMistress (Principal) I had to go through
a lot oftension, distress, hard work and there
were many hardships along the way.
But, through storm and hailstones, He
walked with me gently by my side guiding
and protecting me in all my trials and tests. I
experienced the warmth ofHis breath, which
helped me to carry on the work I do.
My special thanks to the Chairman of
this wonderful Trust, Bhau Kalchuri, and
the members of the Mandali, the most pre
cious gems that Baba has left behind for us,
and the Vice President.
With all my experience over the last 25
years in the Educational field I can trulywith
all sincerity say that this school has provided
a wonderful shelter for the poor and the de
prived. At present we have 450 students com
—

—

-

ing from many differentwalks oflife.The rich
and the poor, the happy and the unfortunate,
the fast and the slow, ailgathered under Baba’s
umbrella, as one big family.
We have them from age three years
i .e. from the Mother’s lap to Baba’s lap
till the age of 15 years. After the 10th
grade they move to a Junior College, since
we do not have one. Their schooling with
us finishes at the 10th grade. Our S.S.C.
(10th grade) State Examination results for
the year March 2002 66.66%! The school
has a wonderful establishment with well
ventilated airy classrooms and a spacious
playground for the children.
My gratitude to Sue Biddu and Dma who
have given me the opportunity to write and
find a place in this beautiful magazine. I ex
press my profound thanks to all those who
lend me their supportive and sacred hands to
help me carry on my work here at school.

3I4::Ji.tj:

LV
3udj 2?obertson, J4/Ielierctbad

—

—

—

-

Dear Baba may we all remain close to

thee!
In His Love and Service,

Mrs. Stella Manuel

.:19II.S:II

November 15, 2002
he children at Meher English School will soon be able to learn and hone their computer
skills on twenty new computers that are currently being installed in the Computer
Laboratory which was constnicted as part of the Trust Development Plan. The installa
tion oftwenty new computer desks, forty stools, and five printer tables was part ofa major
renovation just completed on the facility New plastering and paint have been added to the
wills, and a smooth linoleum flooring and a new air filter system have been installed in
order to help reduce dust, which can damage the valuable and delicate equipment.
Nine computers have now been fhlly installed, and the other eleven should be functional
within a month. The twenty new computers, which have been funded through a specific
donation by one person, will allow each student in a class of forty to have thirty minutes
of hands on experience during a one hour class. All children from the third standard up
have a computer class each week. Those in the highest grades have additional time in the
computer lab on their own.
Students have the opportunity to learn word processing, spreadsheet, and database skills.
Internet access and email skills, which are becoming essential in the business world, will
also be made available to the students. A certified computer teacher and two assistants work
with the children. This computer lab greatly enhances the education of the 450 students
at Meher English School.

T

.ork

D

whatever needs to be done, but do it
as a spiritual being, as one who knows
he is divine by nature and unlimited
with the whole oflife in essence.
Do it as if you are doing it for Me or for
God.
Do it with equal consideration for the
interests of all concerned, for God is
equally in each.
Do it with utmost concentration, yet with
utter detachment for the results of ac
tion. Leave the fruit of action to Me
or to God.
Do it as ifit were the most important thing
in the universe, yetlet it be destroyed, or
ignored, or ridiculed without concern,
or let it be praised without elation.
Leave the response to Me or to God.
Do it, in short, as if you were not doing it
at all, but as if I or God were doing it
through you.

couple of weeks before my first trip to
the Baba Center in Los Angeles, a friend
called me and told me to be sure to tune into
a particular TV channel at a particular time.
She knew I would be interested in the show.
She had written herselfa note to tell me this
but couldn’t remember specifics. The air of
mystery caught my attention and I tuned in
at the appointed time. It was a decorating
show. My friend is a decorator so this made
sense, and I do a lot of artwork, sooo.. .The
checkerboard wall trim however and ribbon
baskets were a bit of a stretch. Then a seg
ment came up about using things you already
own to create a new look this I could relate
to. I paid attention. The next day I reposi
tioned my couch from the place against the
wall where it had been for the past ten years
to a diagonal position coming out from the to see Him move, in this life, with me, here,
wall. I liked it. This new position changed the in real time, now, as others had then. I began
whole atmosphere ofthe room. Before I had a pleading with Him forjust a glimpse. I hon
chance to thank my friend the next time I saw estly felt, in that split second, that this was a
her she quickly apologized for giving me the reasonable request. It was as in a dream where
wrong date to watch the show. I told her that anything is possible and often the impossible
I had gotten something really good out ofthe doesn’t exist at all. This longing had taken
one I watched. That was the end of it—or so over my rational mind. Lasting only a fficker
I thought. A week or so later I was in Los ofa moment I felt a slight twinge of embar
Angeles, trying to get my legs steady under rassment as I got up to go about my day.
me in the Love Street Bookstore. As soon
Later that day, when my husband Michael
as I walked onto the Meherabode property I had finished up some work and had some
became light headed. Mentally, it tooka good time, we settled in to watch our new videos.
hour to be able to focus. As I knelt in front The first one I put in was Virginia Rudd’s
ofBaba’s chair I was unable to resist putting Memories of Meher Baba. So much of this
my head in His lap and my arms over His, video is centered on the story of her preg
becoming completely absorbed. While at the nancy with Raphael, how it was that Baba
Center, it seemed as though every breath I told her she was pregnant. .(she hadn’t a clue)
took was filled with a love that I had never and that the picture ofHim with His hand on
experienced. What an emotional high! I left her head was His bringing the soul into the
with books, photos, music and videos to take baby in the seventh month. The story with
home with me.
Raphael’s music in the background made for a
Our workweek began the day after we most wonderfid experience. During the video
returned from LA so I postponed watching the sun was in its last phase of daylight, and
the videos. But I had begun reading Gift of as the couch was in a new position, so was
God by Arnavaz while in California and I I sitting in a new position. As the shadows
was reading it every chance I could get. The were shifting in the room and I was watching
love in that book combined with the whole the video, I began to notice on the wail right
experience of the trip had me securely living next to the TV a shadow that was beginning
in a Baba bubble.In the morning ofour ftrst to take on a familiar shape. After some mo
day off I was curled up in my favorite chair ments I mentioned to Michael that I thought
reading the book. Many times I would pause I was seeing Baba coming from a shadow of
and let the words and events come alive in a rock from the fireplace and that He was
my mind’s eye. At one point I felt a strange wearing His pink coat. Michaels’ response
sensation in my chest, an internal squeezing was, “Hhmmm.” He later told me he had
accompanied by an intense sense of longing. only half heard something about a picture
I began wishing I could see Baba. I wanted of Baba next to a pink rose quartz rock on
-

32

a shelf near the fireplace. In the meantime I
kept watching this shadow become crisper
and clearer. Finally, I could contain my excitement no longer. I got up, walked over to it,
created a shadow on the wall with my own
finger pointing to Baba and said, “Do you
see this??” Michael suddenlyleapt up yelling,
“Oh my God!!!”
We watched the shadow. It changed in
ways that looked like Baba from when He
was in His forties until His seventies. Trayeling along with and through the shadow of
Baba were shadows ofa star, a crescent moon
and a sun from three candlesticks sitting on
the windowsill. And then it struck me, and
my eyes filled with tears, as they are doing
again right now...This was my wish! He had
given me my wish! To see Him now in real
time. The movement of time through the
setting of the sun, including the movement
ofplanets, and to see Him at all those ages!
This was beyond my imagination, more than
I could have dreamed. To see Him at all those
ages, changing through the movement of the
setting sun, and even the planets!
As I watched the shadow recede I noticed
that there remained a faint shadow of Baba.
This shadow is there all the time. It is only
towards sunset that it begins to transform.
So He is there as long as there is light in
the sky
For days we were ready at 5:15pm and
watched the transformation take place for
about an hour and a half We showed others
who knew instantly what they were seeing.
My son in law even recognized His jacket
and shoulder. Weeks went by and plans were
made to visit with two Baba Lovers. They
saw Baba’s shadow over Easter weekend. The
day after our visit with them the shadow no
longer appeared. The faint one remained, but
not the other. I was happy He waited until
our visit with our Baba Lover friends. Such is
His precise timing.The lines from the song:
“To every thing there is a season” came to
mind. And now He’s back. He came in the
fall too. I am happy to always have that hint
of Baba all year round, but these seasonal
visits really pack a punch.
[Wepublish thephotojeanne sees here, butyou
can get a better look bygoing to
www.awakeningsinc.comBabaSunsetjpg]

WJtnt’s !2iappening at cA’Iekrn*bode?
7Jina 5now

T

he renovations are almost all completed,
our new roofdidn’t let in a drop during
the last storm, the mortgage was paid by the
end of200l (but we are now paying off the
cost ofthe County mandated renovations of
$330,000,) and more landscaping is being
done. We have one acre ofbeautiftd grounds
surrounding the main meeting hall and
Bookstore. We have yet to pave the parking lot, but all the handicap access ramps
and bathrooms are in place. The wonderful
singer Gabriella Tal, gave our ramps two
thumbs up; said they accommodated her
wheel chair marvelously.
When we bought the propert which was
actually the chauffeur’s cottage of the huge
mansion situated on a five-acre estate, (the
eight car garage is our meeting hall) the gar
dens around the chapel had been neglected
for decades. The soil was rock hard and one
of the waterfalls with pond was completely
covered over withjungle like growth.

The larger of
the two ponds,
now complete
with koi, has been
operational almost
from the start (see
the April 1998
issue for the full
story).The smaller
one, which I had
despaired of ever
seeing operational,
was attacked the
other day, not by
machetes, which
would have been
very helpful, but
with small clippers, a chain saw,
and the complete
dedicated tenacity
ofDonna Lee and

I

1_

Ii

_

I’

:.

:

:

Ed Flanagan. Having just
completed creating a Zen
garden in his own home
(Ed is very much into Feng
Shui) he is setting about cre
ating one for Meherabode.
Hopefully in the July issue
you will be able to see the
results.
Wood has been donated
to cover the very rough hewn
beams in the meeting hall
(it was, after all, a garage!)
When that is completed we
can then hang all the beauti
flil paintings and photos of
the Beloved. Almost 200
people can comfortably sit
in the main hall, and the
seats can be re arranged to
accommodate much smaller
gatherings.
Two glass doors open
into the Bookstore, which
still needs more frctures to
hold the myriad of items
we sell. But we are getting
there...
Following this is an ar
tide written by a lady who

was on the property back when it was owned
by Elizabeth Claire Prophet in the ‘70s.
Anne talks about the landscaping that was
done around what we now call The Dome
(because inside it has a domed ceiling that
reminds us of Baba’s Samadhi. Photos on
following pages.) How fascinating to get the
real history ofthis beautiful building, and to
find out it was built with such love to honor
the Christ Avatar.
J ust a little about who this group was:
Mark L. Prophet began the movement—
originally called The Summit Lighthouse.
He was much older than Elizabeth, but they
married and had four children. Elizabeth
Clair Prophet was a very charismatic leader,
very sharp and highly skilled as a speaker
and writer.
The aim ofthe teachings was the ascen
sion, which involved balancing your karma
so you could get off the wheel of rebirth.
It was started in the late ‘50s or early
‘60s on the East Coast and moved several
times, including Colorado Springs—where
Mark Prophet died—then California. They
had centers in Pasadena, Santa Barbara and
finally Malibu and Los Angeles, [in what is
now Meherabode.] Ann joined the group
in 1976. The entire group, in the hundreds,
moved to Montana in 1987.

33

H

Vi

y3Qj:fl9j
4
am sharing my journey to God with you
because of an interesting “coincidence.” I
was attending one of Bhau’s gatherings this
summer at a home in Los Angeles, and in
a conversation with another Baba lover, it
came out that the Los Angeles Baba Center,
Meherabode, is located on the propertywhich
had previously been owned by Church Uni
versal and Triumphant (the teachings of the
ascended masters) ofwhich I had been a staff
member for many years. When Dma Snow
later heard about this connection, she wanted
to know about the building of the dome. So
I did some research and will share with you
what I discovered.
I did not live on that property which was
called the Ashram ofthe World Mother. The
entire estate was purchased in a very rundown
condition, for much, muchless than it’s present
value. This is because the staff renovated the
mansion and grounds beautiftilly. I was told
that the mansion was even haunted by ghosts
before they worked on it.
I lived at the main headquarters of the
church, which was on a beautiflil 200-acre
property inland from Malibu. We had moved
there from a smaller campus in Pasadena in
l977because the organizationwas growing so
fast. There was probably atleast 500 ftill-time
staffat this time. The ‘Ashram” was purchased
forliving quarters for Elizabeth Clare Prophet,
the leader ofthe movement, and to create more
space for all the outreach programs in play at
the time. My (future) husband lived there for
some time, in between going out on lecture
tours.
I telephoned one of the builders of the
dome, known then as the Will of God Focus,
to find out the details ofits construction. We
had a wonderful conversation and it reminded
me of the reason so many of us were there.
The main thing I would like to convey is that
during this period, mid-70s thnt the 80s and
into the 90s, the vast majority of staff mem
bers were young idealistic people looking for
a spiritual life, and the community provided
that for us. Many ofus had gone through the
hippy culture, and we flourished under the
strict guidelines and work schedule laid down
for those ofus on staff
The dome was built with this fervent
love and devotion to God, and of course it
makes me very happy that Baba is utilizing
all ofthat love in a very direct manner for His
purposes.

I

36

tood

.._/41I11C 2tniiq, J
1/loiitaiin
7

I telephoned the master builder,James, and
he told me that the dome was built in 1980
and was designed in a “cosmic egg” shape,
along with the two smaller dome rooms on
either side. This was to reflect the shape of
the aura. The great height of the dome was
designed to enhance clearer resonance for
decrees (rhythmic chanting of poetic verses).
Beneath the blue glass octagon skylight was
a beautiftil rotating life-sized, white marble
statue of Jesus which had been sculpted a
century before. Surrounding this statue at its
base was lush green foliage with spotlights
which enhanced the beautiftil image ofJesus.
The outer rim was edged in pink rose quartz
crystals (ofwhich I still have one that a worker
had given me). I remember on the occasions
when I came to decree being swept up in the
etherealbeautyofthe place. Itwillbe poignant
to revisit there one ofthese days. Although I
can truly say the heart is the perfect place to
commune with the Beloved.
J ames told me that he was one of only
three men who did the majority of work in

building the dome. Two additional carpen
ters would come from the Malibu property to
work occasionally, and towards the very end of
the project there were many helpers. An old
church member who lived in the desert came
and taught the three young men how to plaster
thebuilding, including the hand-made curved
trusses and arches designed from their own
patterns. They also landscaped the grounds
with gardens andwaterfalls. I can honestly say
it was a labor oflove, and I’m sure that’s why
Baba lovers purchased it.
I laughed whenjames told me about how
theywould put their sleepingbags on the para
pet roof at night, stressing what a great time
theyhad, even though they occasionally heard
the sound ofgun shots and riots. It reminded
me of how adventurous (and young!) we all
were. I slept for many years in a sleeping bag
on the floor ofmy office. We were really having
fun working for God!
Now I will briefly tell you how I got from
there to here. I was an ardent seeker of God
from age 20, unfortunately coinciding with
drug use. Nevertheless, God is greater than
all ofthat and myjoumey took me from twenty
years as a full-time, unpaid staffmember (domg every conceivable job from cooking and
teaching in the Montessori school to lecturing
and writing materials for publication) to the
blissfiil opportunity to just be a homemaker.
The church moved its headquarters from
California to Montana in 1987 and soon
after the move I got married. Ten years later,
with two children ages six and nine, I was able
to gracefully retire because the church was in
a decline and the staffwas shrinking. Also the
leader, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, had (and still
has) Alzheimers.
So the last five years have been for me a
renewed and vigorous spiritual quest for more
truth and more answers, my longing for God
being very intense. Meditation became impor
tant to me, and I understood much more about
life byhaving the opportunity to be still and go
within. Mylove ofnature was renewed, which
I hadn’t had time to really appreciate during
those busyyears ofnon-stop work, and I realized the value ofa simple life. I didn’t have to
save the world. I had to save myself!
A dear friend and neighbor, also named
Anne, with whom I had worked on staff
years before, had a Vedic astrology reading by
phone and shared the tape with me. I was very
impressed with the spirituality conveyed and

my husband, Kenneth, and I decided to have
a reading. Myftrst acquaintancewith Chandra
Shankar, akajadeWebber (entera Baba lover!)
was in March of 2001. I remember the earlier part ofthe daybefore the reading. I could
hardly coalesce my atoms to ftinction in the
gross plane. Light and energy were swirling
and I remember teffing Jade how I felt, and
what did it mean? Little did I know what
awaited me!Jade helped me incrediblywith his
practical spiritual awareness and even hinted
about the Avatar. But it tooka few months for
me to go for the bait. By August I was really
pressing him for more and more information
and when I was ready to hear, he told me that
I would find the answers to all my questions
in Discourses by Meher Baba.
So I told Kenneth that I needed Discourses
and he immediately went to the internet and
ordered not only that but God Speaks and
The Path of Love. I devoured all of them
ravenously. By this time my friend Annie was
planning to go to India with Jade in the fall.
Then for some reason Jade called me while
Annie was at my house and intimated that it
was important for ihe to get to India as soon
as possible, and I knew I had to go too. My
husband came in the room and said, “You
have to go to India, doi* you?” I looked at
him and said “yes.”
I felt Baba’s presence verytangiblybefore I
went to India, and I sensed the importance of
making the pilgrimage, aithoughl didn’t really
see howl could do it. I had no desire to world
travel and I had young children whom I had
never left for more than a few days. But here
was my dear husband, who is not into Baba,
making it all happen reallyfastfor me. In fact,
Annie and I booked our tickets the daybefore
9/11. People thought we were crazy to go, but
I think itjust made us more determined. In the
Samadhi these words came to me:

rthc Tomb
Wmy head at 2tis feet
rthe grace was profound
5looded with love
Whik prostrate on the ground
So now I am back home with my precious
family in Montana, growing in Baba’s love and
grace. Words can never express my gratitude.
And even though the road is still long and
sometimes rough, it’s okay now. I always
believed in love. I knew that love was the
only reality and the Beloved finally revealed
Himseifto me.

What is to Come continuedfrompg 19

Baba has indicated that such an eventuality
is possible. A subtle hint of this is one of the
questions that Baba answered in the in the Q
and A interchanges that went on in the 30’s.
In this particular one, the questioner had asked
Baba if science by its constant progression
could eventually touch on or even cross over
the banierbetween the physical and the subtle
world? Baba gave a rather detailed answer
whose conclusion was that it was impossible
for science to reach or probe the subtle world.
Then He made the following, and from our
standpoint, interesting comment, It [science]
may, at the most, touch the extreme limits of
matter but that will take ages. And who can,
till then,vouchsafe for the integrity ofthis—the
present civiiization?”
4
Baba’s questioning about “the integrity of
this present civilization,”I thinkcanbe taken to
mean that this civilization might not last over
this possible period oftime, which Baba refers
to as “ages”. Ifwe define ages in the technical
sense that Baba used it in God Speaks, then
an age lasts anywhere from 65 to 125 years.
An Avataric “cycle” is made up of 11 ages. So
ages actually, is not a very long time. In this
seemingly casual statement Baba appears to be
saying that in a period ofless than one Avataric
cyde, say several hundred years, this whole dvilization, so dosely connected with science, may
be gone—disintegrated, so to speak.
The apparent casualness or incidental setting of this statement should not lead us to
dismiss it. It actuallyaccords with other things
that Baba has said in more detail. For example,
in Lord Meher it is recorded that Baba said
the following, which is an excerpt from a larger
statement: “Many a world has gone, and this
too will go. To take its place, another world
[Earth] is being made ready. Three-fourths
of it is already ready, one-fourth remains to
be formed. If this world is destroyed today,
evolution will start in another.”
5
I would call particular attention to two
things in these words. The first is Baba’s statement”Ifthis world is destroyed today.
(My
italics). This “if” would seem to show that it is
not predetermined from Baba’s point of view
whatwill happen,whetherwe will destroy this
world or not. That still seems to be an open
question, and that’s the naturalistic part.
The second particularly interesting statement is beyond the natural. This is Baba
referring to “three-fourths” of another earth
that has already been formed, with another
fourth remaining to go. That particular proportion should strike an obvious chord with
us. Baba has famously spoken in The Final
Declaration and its subsequent amendments
“

.

.

“

that three-fourths ofthis presentworld would
be destroyed (said in his “own language,” but
that shouldn’t take away the correspondence).
So here we have two different “three-fourths”.
One is the new world that is already ready to
that extent, and the other is the three-fourths
of this world to be destroyed. This may rea
sonably lead us to infer that the remaining
one-fourth ofthe new earth doesn’t even have
to be formed. Instead there would be the onefourth ofthis present earth that isn’t destroyed
that then would bejoined up with the newly
formed three-fourths ofthe “new earth”.
Apart from the relevance or accuracy of
the above speculations about “three-fourths,”
the more significant and general meaning of
this statement and others that Baba has made
about earth perennially being destroyed (By
“natural and unnatural catastrophes,” as Baba
has also said in this Lord Meher section) and
a new earth taking its place, is that this is
something that has always happened in the
creation. A present earth being destroyed does
not mean the end of souls, as souls never end
but continue on till Realization, even if that
is continued on a new earth. The ancient
myths in our world of an Atlantis civilization
that once existed, as well as that of floods
and Noah’s Ark, may be cultural echoes of
life on a previous earth. This general theme
or possible scenario of the future was delved
into by the Baba disciple, Irene Coneybeare,
daughter ofthe Oxford scholar ofreligion, E
C. Coneybeare. In her account, this scenario
was connected to the concept of Mahapralya
that Baba has described. Coneybeare writes:
“No such complete destruction will occur
because man’sjourney through creation is not
finished and the Powers that Be will always
stop such an eventuality by some catastrophe
designed to leave enough people to start another age.
According to Sufi and Vedantic wisdom
the End of the Hierarchy of Avatars flinc
tioning on the earth plane will synchronize
with the End of the World. This will be the
final dissolution of the material universe,
Mahapralya. Then follows another ‘night of
6
Brahma’.”
If this last point about the “night of
Brahma” is mysterious, it is interesting that
it is darified byMargaret Craske, who begins
with the following in the frontispiece of her

book, The Dance ofLove: My Ljft with
Meher Baba. Margaret has quoted this from
7
Ananda
In the night ofBrahma, Nature lies inert
and cannot dance until Shiva wills it. He
rises from his rapture and, dancing, sends
What is to Come continued on pg 44

37

5tep Dnside...

7h..

,

Jai Baba Folks,

D

?

ecember
was
a very busy
season! I’m so happy
we were able to take
care of you all for
your gift giving. And
how about those Don
Steven’s videos?! We
received them later
than I would have
liked, but hopefully
you all got them in

erBb
1 —crrue

1

1960

I
I

time. For those of you
new to the LampPost,
these videos are ifims
that Baba, Maui and
Mehera directed Don
to take in the 60’s.
They have only now
been made available
Meher B
to the public in video
at Home
format. You can buy
1962
them by the set of
three for $90, or the
two Baba 1960 and Baba 1962 for $30 each
and The Great Darshan (Baba’s internment)
video for $45.
We have two new CDs in, one from an ex
Los Angeleno Maraiya Potter who used to
attend the meetings at
Fiis Frederick’s home
i in the 70’s. Her CD,
•

•

::..

:...::.

titled Eternity is Now
displays some very
wonderful singing in
a marvelous contralto
voice. Soft, soothing
.: and entirely captivat
[ ing. $14
Ward Parks’ Word
?
of God plays up his
use of choral backing
to great effect. $13. Reviews of both CDs
are in the Review section.
The best selling book last month
was The Golden Threaa’ Barbara Scott’s
marvelous accounting ofthe Darshan Baba
gave (in absentia) to the Chapel Hill group
in 1967. I would recommend this book as a
gift to someone who has displayed even a
little interest in Baba or the spiritual path—
especially if they were hippies or druggies
in the 60’s! $12

I:

.

38

A little book that Phyllis Ott put
together years ago and has not been given
enough publicity is Beautjful Souls in Ugly
Cages. It tells of Baba’s work with the
lepers. $6. Following is a story of one of
His contacts with these people.

Michael Da Costa, long time English
Baba lover and collaborator on some of
Pete Townshend’s early Meher Baba albums
has sent us two new CDs ofhis. Ifyou bought
Garland ofEgos—his brilliant and sometimes
scathing poems—you’ll know Michael surely
has a way with words! He has generously put
the price at only $10 soA-Z, Words and Things
as well as LostandFoundare super deals.
Another huge seller was the 2003 Baba
Calendars; we sold hundreds ofthem! As I’m
sure you noticed, the Love Street Bookstore
prices are $2 below the suggested retail price.
(We sell them for $11 each, or $10 ifyou are
buying 5 or more.) This is because I do like
to give you all a bargain, a special deal. Your
loyalty needs rewarding! What you need to
know is that every penny of profit from the
Love Street Bookstore goes to helping the
Los Angeles Baba Center run Meherabode,
the beautiful Center Baba gave us five years
ago. There are no wages paid to anyone, no
overhead (I work out ofmy home which has
3 bedrooms given over to the Bookstore stor
age and work areas—the volunteer laborers,
(Pris, Harry and Margit) come here to help
with the work.) The great news is—thanks
to your loyalty—at year’s end, the Bookstore
was able to turn over to the Center’s treasurer
$20,000!! 2002 saw the highest sales ever
and $20,000 was the total profit gener
ated by all the items you all have purchased
throughout the year. It is our blessed joy to
serve you and our Lord in this way. Thank
you so much, each and every one of you
who buy from
the Love Street
Bookstore!

I4arks, J
7
14eIi.er Centcr, J14aj 17, 2002
7
2tigliliglits of a 7ctlk by Ella J
2<endrn Crossen i3urroughs, JMyrtIe EBeach
eher Center has been celebrating
the fiftieth anniversary of Avatar
Meher Baba’s first visit to Meher Center in
Myrtle Beach, which was founded for him
in the 1940s by Elizabeth Patterson and
Norma Matchabelli. Arriving at the Center
on 20 April 1952, He remained until2l May,
when He and His companions left with the
intention ofvisiting Meher Mount in Ojai,
California; the journey was interrupted by
the momentous event ofHis car accident in
Oklahoma on 24 May.
As part of the celebration, some of those
who saw Baba during that 1952 visit have
been coming to the Center to share their
memories. On the evening of 17 May, Ella
Marks—one of the dancers who came to
Baba through Margaret Craske—recalled
her meeting and life with Baba.
Ella’s lovely face appeared lit from within
as she beamed at the large audience. “Where
to begin?” Today was the exact fiftieth anniversary of her first meeting with Meher
Baba. Ella said she had formulated a wish
for herseiftoday. Usuallywhen she wishes, it
is for someone else—her children or people
at work—but what would she wish just for
herself? “To see Baba again. To have Him
present in form.”
Born into an old Episcopalian family, Ella
grewup on a farm in Virginiawith four rowdy
brothers. Her parents directed her toward
studying dance, and it was her dream as well;
after high school she went to Jacob’s Pillow
University ofDance in New York State. She
had heard about “a wonderftil teacher from
England” there, and placed herself believing
rather prideftilly that she belonged there, in
one of her advanced classes. Ella was quite
pleased when Miss Craske came up to her
at the barre. Miss Craske looked at her and
ordered her out of the class: “You are not
ready.” The next day, Ella swallowed her
pride and with some trepidation went to a
much less advanced class. Miss Craske again
approached her at the barre and corrected her
placement. Ella turned and looked into her
eyes and was flooded with a sense of bot
tomless love and compassion. Although with
her loving parents she had experienced love,
that one glance opened up a new dimension
ofReality Being taught by Miss Craske and
being in her presence made it the happiest
summer of Ella’s life. Her parents afterward

M

allowed her to continue her studies in New
York City where Miss Craske taught.
There was an intriguing air of mystery
about Margaret Craske. It was said that she’d
been to India and had a guru there, and once
a year she disappeared and didn’t speak for a
day. The first time Ella heard her talk about
Baba was in the fall of 1947. Miss Craske’s
generosityin sharing stories ofBaba with her
students was extraordinary—after teaching
twenty to thirty students two to three times
a day, she would give an hour or two to those
who wanted to hear about Baba.
Ella, who fancied herself an intellectual,
decided to prepare for these discussions by
readingThomas Aquinas. She laughed as she
recalled the quizzical look on Miss Craske’s
face in response to this. Ella later understood
that what is important with Baba is not what
is in the mind—it is the experience of love.
Miss Craske did not lecture or make
pronouncements about spiritual truths; she
simply shared stories ofBaba. She also spoke
about how ego stands in the way ofperceiving
His Reality—and Ella admitted that she had
more than her share of ego. Another value
that Miss Craske impressed upon Ella was
that “small things are important”—don’t be
late, don’t be careless, be clear.
“Miss Craske was so beautiflil to me,” Ella
said, teaching her that people come to Baba
in different ways—some immediately, others
more slowly—and that it’s OK to come more
slowly or be more questioning. There was a
centeredness about her, an inner space ofqui
etness and integrity thatyou could hold on to,
even ifyou didn’t yet know what love was.
Ella received from Miss Craske a book
about Baba—by Charles Purdom, perhaps—
and was filled with a dread of entering alien
territory that her family would not approve
of: However Ella says she never read much in
the begirming, since Miss Craske taught them
that Baba’s way is experiential, not cognitive
or intellectual. But there is nothing wrong
with using the mind, and “my understanding is that Baba expects us to use our mind.”
Today she can read Baba’s books, and it comes
together more meaningfully for her now.
When the students were informed that
Baba was coming to Myrtle Beach, Ella
wanted to go. (Miss Craske never tried to
convince anyone to come to Baba, but simply

said, in effect, “Here it is—it’s up to you.”)
She was living on very little in New York
and didn’t want to ask her father for money
to see someone who was said to be the Christ,
so she scrimped and saved and bought the
ticket herself
Ella flew in to Wilmington the night
of May 16, 1952, with two other young
women. The next day was her first meeting
with Baba, in the Barn. “I only remember
seeing His form and His eyes—that’s all.”
Wistfully Ella said, “I did not see who Baba
was”—something that has always been a great
loss to her. She stumbled out ofthe Barn and
had to be alone. Being a country girl, and not
realizing that one was not supposed to stray
offthe paths, she walked for a while through
the woods.
After she returned, she learned that she
and her friend Myrna were invited to tea
with the women mandali. Being the only
girl in a family of boys, Ella was used to a
certain toughness, and so what struck her
very strongly about Mehera and the other
women was their incredible gentleness and
their genuine interest in each individual.
After Ella met Baba, several significant
things happened. The love of her life had
been dance, but she now realized that she
did not have the qualities necessary to become
the dancer she wanted to be. At that time she
also underwent “a rough surgery.” Soon ther
she met her husband-to-be, Peter, who was
studying to be an Episcopal priest. After marriage, they lived in the inner city where Peter
served an impoverished community ofrecent
Puerto Rican immigrants. Miss Craske was
very patient with Peter, never speaking about
Baba to him unless he asked. (Eventually he
did become desirous of speaking with Miss
Craske alone.)
In 1956, when Ella was expecting her first
child (Wyatt, later known as Viola), Baba
came to New York, where she saw Him at
the Hotel Delmonico. He touched her once,
very quickly—an event she connects with
the great transcendent joy she experienced
in giving birth. Peter, a very reserved man,
came to the hotel in his clerical collar to meet
Baba. Ella joked that when Peter saw Baba
sitting flankedby Eruch andAdi in their dark
suits and with arms crossed over their chests,
he had the impression that he was meeting
maflosi.

39

In 1958, when Baba returned to the U.S.,
Ella was pregnant again. Tex Hightower and
her other dancer friends would be going to
Myrtle Beach, but since Ella was eight or
nine months along, she decided she had better not go. There was a sadness upon hearing
how beautiftilly the dancers had performed
for Baba, but it was special knowing that
her second daughter, Alex, had been born
while Baba was at Myrtle Beach. (Ella had
four children in all--Viola, Alex, Susan, and
Peter--and each was special, but the first two
children had the distinction ofbeing associ
ated with Baba’s visits.)
The life of a clergy wife was difficult, and
Ella went through times ofdepression. Part of
beingwith Baba, she reflected, is relinquishing
things, letting go of illusion. When she first
heard about “illusion,” she had no idea what
it meant—but “youleam what illusion is.” Ella
had to let go of the persona of a dancer (she
later became a psychotherapist). There was
much grinding down of the ego and facing
of harsh realities. Miss Craske’s stories had
helped prepare her for some of the rough
times when “you think you’re over something
and then—bang!—you get another blow.”
After Baba dropped the body, Ella had
planned to go to the 1969 Darshan, but that
did not come to pass. And so her first pilgrimage to India was in the fall of 1980. It was
a greatjoy to be at the Tomb with Mansari.
Ella’s mother had died that spring, but she
had not truly mourned her. On thelast day of
her trip, Ella was at the Tomb and visualized
her mother’s funeral cortege; she was living
it again, and for the first time in her life she
experienced her mother’s true goodness and
love—something she had not been able to see
because of the powerfhl personality that her
mother was. She was able to grieve, weeping copiously on Mansari’s shoulder while
Mansari looked on with compassion and a
quizzical expression.
On a subsequent trip to India, Peter agreed
to go along. While walking up Meherabad
Hill to the Tomb, he was suddenly flooded
with a beautiflil Easter hymn (“Christ is risen,
Christ is risen indeed”). At Arti, he was sur
prised and said to Ella, “You didn’t tell me
they have a liturgy here!” The mandali were
so beautiflil to him—Eruch even asked Peter
for his blessing, and then Mani came running:
“Me too, me too!” Peter just melted. Being
with the mandali reminded him ofthe early
days ofthe Christian era.
A young man Peter met in India told
him in the course ofconversation, “Ifyou’re
ever in trouble, call on Baba’s Name.” Peter
Continuedonpage 41
40

...R.:aIph wu..... St.eIt.a A’1ect ¶Bnh....
..

... .

2<endra Crossen 73urroughs,
JI4yrtle EB each

S

tella and Ralph Hernandez shared
their story of meeting Baba during the
recent volunteer/community sahavas held
at Meher Center in Myrtle Beach. For
those of you who don’t know this muchloved couple, Stella is one of the Center
Board members and is frequently a hostess
at Baba’s House. Ralph worked for many
years in the Gateway and as a caretaker.
Both have regularly conducted tours of the
Center for visitors.
Ralph started out telling us how they
first learned of Baba through Dana Field,
who had attended the 1954 men’s meetmg known as the Three Incredible Weeks
with Baba in India. Baba had mentioned
that He would be coming to the United
States in 1956-to Meher Center and other
places-and Dana came to St. Petersburg
to tell people who might be interested in
meeting Baba.
Ralph and Stella and their children were
living there at that time and had recently
become interested in spiritual philoso
phies. They were meeting in a group with
other couples who were mostly reading
about Catholic saints; they knew nothing
of Indian religions. They had read about
“cosmic consciousness” and the teachings of
mystics likejoel Goldsmith, and they had a
little inkling ofwhat a master was-”but not
much,” Ralph admitted. They didn’t know
anything about practices like vegetarianism
or celibacy, and here came Dana with his
seemingly fanatical ideas about food (his
own diet consisted mainly offruits and nuts)
and his reluctance to sit close to a woman.
Ralph said they didn’t take him seriously
and considered him a bit nutty In later years
theywouldjoke that they had come to Baba
in spite ofDana, because “when Baba wants
you, He gets you!”
Dana came to the group meetings with
pamphlets and pictures of Baba, and the
first image that Ralph and Stella saw was
the Mahabaleshwar photo of May 1954,
in which Baba is leaning against a railing
against a mountainous backdrop.
Stella picked up the story at the point
where they were to meet Baba at the Center.
She said that although she had attended the
spiritual discussion group, she was so busy
raising her children that she didn’t really
take it seriously-it was just a pastime. She

welcomed the chance to go to the Center
because she hadn’t had a vacation in years.
With the children being cared for by their
grandparents, she figured she’d have a lot
offttn in Myrtle Beach. Well, she did—but
not the way she expected. “The first time
I saw Baba, that was it,” Stella said. Baba
came out of the Lagoon Cabin and stood
in front of it just as Stella and Ralph came
along, and for a few seconds He looked right
at her. With that one glance, He stole her
heart completely.
Baba proceeded down the steps and
over the bridge that crosses the lagoon.
Ralph watched in awe at Baba’s physical
being—His presence, His aliveness, His
eyes, His beauty All ideas he had formed
about masters seemed like mere foolishness, and “we stood there, dumbfounded.”
When Baba’s eyes met Ralph’s, “something
happened deep inside ofme. I got all shook
up and couldn’t think.” Not wanting others
to see him sobbing, Ralph walked behind
the kitchen.
When the people from Florida were
called in to meet Baba in the Lagoon
Cabin, Ralph saw no one but Baba in the
room, although he knows the others must
have been there. Baba conveyed in a natural
manner such questions as, “Are you happy to
see Me?” “Do you want to say something?”
Ralph said, “Baba, when I saw You near
the boathouse, You took my breath away.”
Baba replied, “I take away very little, and I
give the infinite Ocean of Love.”
Stella hardly recalls the details of the
meeting; she could only look at Baba. She
was confused—”Who is this man? Why
do I feel this way?” She hadn’t heard much
about Baba or read anything about Him yet,
but she felt like a little child who had been
taken to the fair.
The Hernandezes met Baba in 1958 as
well but concluded their brief reminiscence
here. Interestingly, when they returned home
and wanted to tell the group about Baba,
it had disbanded and they never saw those
people again.
Ralph added humorously that they last
saw Dana Field not long before he died,
when they visited him in a nursing home in
California. Ralph chuckled, “And they were
feeding him meat!”

f.

:.

‘F

-:
2
larry Daniel
Dedolchow
Ei3arbarci Snow, California
Daniel Dedolchow 1927-2002
alias Lance Marlowe) entered the
arms ofhis beloved Avatar Meher Baba on
Columbus Day, Monday, October 14, 2002
at 7:30am in Truckee, California.
Longlost to the Baba community Harry
was rediscovered by Tom Basora, a dentist
from Graeagle, who learned from one of his
patients that there was a devoted follower
of Meher Baba nearing death in the little
lumber town ofLoyalton, California. In his
last days Harry who was then called Lance,
became a dear friend to Tom, and entrusted
Tom with his special Baba archive, including
many books, photos and art works of the
Beloved, and a 2’ by 2’ silk scarf that had
been given to Baba by Mehera and worn by
Meher Baba for two hours during Harry’s
visit to Meherazad in 1959.
The account of Harry’s 1959 visit has
been ably described by Bhau Kalchuri in
Volume Sixteen ofLord Meher (pp. 56385641), and an interview with him was conducted for the Glow. One of Baba’s sailor
boys (Herman Alvarado is another), Harry
worked for the merchant marines, and in
1959 when his ship docked in Calcutta,
Baba allowed him to visit, even though
Baba had stopped giving darshan and had
closed correspondence. Although Mehera
still
seclusion from men, Baba
allowed Harry to meet her.
When Tom asked what was the most
memorable event with Baba, he replied
slowly, “Baba took me to the garden area.
Baba asked Mani to get Mehera and then
discharged Mani. Mehera folded her hands
and I folded mine. Nothing was said. When
I looked at Mehera’s eyes, I saw tremendous
beauty, huge black eyes .very large. Baba
put his right hand on my left shoulder. I
think he was trying to prevent me from
passing out. I believe he put me under a veil,
too. Everything was out offocus. He wanted
me to look at Mehera’s eyes: first male, very
special. She was fourteen or something like
that when she went into seclusion. Later
Baba said that ofall the souls in the world,
she is the purest, and that includes perfect
masters. She is illuminated but under a veil.

J4arry
(

was to remember this advice at a crucial
moment. He and Ella—along with their
daughter Susan, an Indian girl, and a Cana
dian woman—had gone up Seclusion Hill.
It was very windy and the climb was a bit
ofa struggle (especially for Ella, who feared
heights). The little girl’s hat blew off and
over the side, and though Peter wanted to
try to retrieve it, Susan insisted it should not
be attempted. When the others were ready
to go back down, Peter wanted to stay on
the hill alone near the area of Baba’s seclu
sion. He spent some time in quiet and then
again wanted to recover the hat. Wearing a
pair ofloose sandals, he went over the side
and lost his footing. As he began to slide, he
was filled with terror at the sheer drop (the
goatherds below were the size of specks).
He remembered what the young man had
said and cried out Baba’s Name—and all of
a sudden he felt perfectly calm and relaxed,
and slowly climbed back to safety—with the
child’s hat in his hand!
In conclusion, Ella remarked again on the
grinding-down process she had undergone
over the years. She’d had to learn to come
down to earth and face life (in her youth she
had done things like walk out of a theater
barefoot, having forgotten her shoes inside).
She feels tremendous gratitude for having
met Baba and for coming closer to Him in
many small ways. “All day, truly, I thought:
‘Oh, if I could meet You now—because so
much has been cleansed away.”
Following the talk we saw a brief film of
Baba in Switzerland in 1952 (after His acci
dent), which ended with a shot ofHim spelling out this message on the alphabet board:
“I love all those who love Me, with pure
divine love, because I am Pure Love.”

was in strict

. .

When we went back to mandali hail, Baba
gestured for me to come over. He handed
me a scarf He had it underneath His sadra.
Baba said, “This is from Mehera.” Mehera
had given that scarf to Baba and he wore
it for two hours. I just repeated, “Thank
Baba.” A.C.S. Chari, an attorney from
Calcutta who had traveled with Harry to
Meherazad said, “You are very fortunate.
No male has ever seen Mehera physically.”
Born of Czechoslovakian parents in
Argentina, Harry’s family subsequently
immigrated to New York. He left home
early age and joined the Merchant
Marines, retiring after 30 years. Harry never
married and never had children. He learned
of Meher Baba in 1955 in San Francisco
and became a student of Murshida Duce.
There he befriendedjoseph Harb, Herman
Alvarado, and other members ofa small Sufi
group that had been reoriented by Meher
Baba.
After leaving the merchant marines,
Harry developed aspirations of a Hollywood career and so changed his name to
Lance Marlowe. Like many such dreams,
these did not play out as hoped. So he
eventually moved to Reno where he spent
the casinos. His
friend Herman tried to track him down
through the Maritime Workers Union, but
could not receive authorization to bypass the
privacy restrictions. Twenty-five years from
their last contact, and just days from death,
Harry, through Tom and his contacts with
Bay Area Baba groups, was able to contact
Herman. Harry, in a barely audible voice,
called Herman who immediately made
arrangements to visit him, braving the
discomforts of a round trip airplane ride
on a single day despite sciatic nerve pain.
Herman finally found his friend Harry at
long last in a little town 40 miles north of
Reno.
It was a tearfully joyous reunion after
Harry was in extraordinary
pain, yet resisted being taken to the
hospital in Truckee where his physician
had authorized the administration of pain
medication. Harry viewed videotape that
Herman brought of the 1963 East-West
Gathering at Guruprasad, India, which
showed Harry carrying Meher Baba in His
chair. Harry also received from Herman a
photograph of that scene, which he later
took with him to the hospital in Truckee.
4’

you

at an

many years working at

so manyyears.

j_

.

— --

A note accompanied the
photograph:
October 10, 2002
My Dear Harry
In the great ocean of
Maya, we were those lucky
seafarers collecting sanskaras
with the minds ofthe world.
But deep in our hearts was a
beaming lighthouse, enticing
us to enter a harbor located
in the realm ofthe soul. Tell
me Sailor boy, what are we
waiting for? Let’s go full
speed ahead. Beloved is
expecting you, and by haying His compass and tides in
your favor, drop then the anchor and finish
with engines, in His ever-lasting bosom, and
Ocean of Love.
Jai Baba, Sailor Boy.
Put in a good word for me.
Your shipmate Herman”
Meher Baba’s sailor boys exchanged re
membrances ofthe Beloved and oftheir lives
together with Him. Herman held Harry’s
hands, looked into his eyes, and said the
Lord’s Prayer and the Prayer of Repen
tance. As soon as Tom returned from Reno
after taking Herman to the airport, the pain
became too great for Harry who asked to be
taken to the hospital in Truckee where he
spent his final hours. Neighbors and friends
saw Harry off and expressed their love and
affection for him.
On Columbus Day, in which we celebrate
the life of another saioi Harry joined his
beloved Avatar Meher Baba. Herman Alvarado addressed a special last message to
Harry in a letter to Bhau Kalchuri. “Bon
Voyage, Sailor Boy. Hope we will sail again
in the Ocean of Love.”

Rooruddin fawwctl
ames Cox, Jllehercthctd
11
’The 2’IigIit the JI4usic Died.
11
This morning, in the midst of a hectic
work schedule, I received a phone call from
Khuldabad, in Hindi, telling me that it was
the son of Nooruddin Qwwal caffing. At
first I was so happy to hear from him because over the last couple ofyears his father
and I had become quite close despite neither
ofus being able to speak to the other without some degree of interpretation. People
coming to Meherabad frequently ask me if
there is a chance to hear Qwwali and since
42

minutes at a time without understanding a line, and without it mattering, or
when I used to sit with Padrikaka on the
front porch of Mandali Hall in Lower
Meherabad as the sun set and listen to
him curse the world and swat mosquitoes
in a language I did understand.
Nooruddin was a traditional Sufi,
and the last time we were with him he
hinted that this would be his last Qw
wali program. We joked with him and
told him we would go and bring him back
from wherever he was, but he assured us
that he wouldn’t be far away. There is an
ancient graveyard around the dargah of
Raju Qttal, and that is where he was laid
to rest. But there is no one left to sing.
it is now the month of Ramzaan and they

don’t sing at this time, I was wondering when
I would get another chance to go. As I don’t
speak Hindi very well, I handed the phone
to my wife and was shocked by the news
that his father had died on November 11, in
Aurangabad. Apparently he had contracted
Hepatitis B without knowing it and by the
time they put him in the hospital, it was
too late. His son was calling to tell me there
would be no more Qwwali concerts as there
was no one to take his place. It reminded of
the song about Buddy Holly, “The night the
music died.”
The last time I heard him perform was
on our marriage anniversary, and it is impos
sible to convey in writing what I felt when
he would sing. Bhauji used to ask me what
I got out ofQwwali since I couldiñ understand most of the words and suggested my
attraction must have been because I liked the
clapping, but I would have to describe the
experience as perhaps something similar to
sitting in Baba’s presence if he was giving a
discourse in a language you couldn’t understand intellectually. When Nooruddin was a
young boy, he used to sit andlisten to the qa
wwals at that time when theyfrequently sang
to Baba, and perhaps Baba gave him something. I will never kno but the last time we
sat in the dargah compound of Raju Qttal
Husseini, at almost the same spot where
Baba bowed down 6000 times, Nooruddin
rained ecstatic praise on Baba, Mohammed
and the whole Chisti silsila, while the fog
poured in, sometimes obscuring the lights
and I was transported somewhere else, back
to another time and another essence. For a
few hours, it was the feeling ofAhmednagar
and Meherabad of3O years ago, when I used
to sit in Adikaka’s (Adi K. Irani) office and
listen to him quote Hafiz in Persian for 20

5Rob 21arke
‘

am 2Icirke 9eorgict

Rob Narke, the author ofBaba Baba
Everywhere Completes His Thur ofDuty
January 26 1939 —August 202002
Rob and I met at the Univ. of Dayton in
1958, dated sixweeks in the spring, and then
went our separate ways. We had no contact
for twentyyears. We were both divorced for
four years, andliving in different parts ofthe
country, Rob in L.A. and me in Atlanta.
Neem Karoli Baba was my guru and
while meditating one day I told Baba that
I wanted him to send me a good husband,
and a father for my children. Soon after
that my friend and I visited a psychic, Paul
Neary, and his guide told me that the man
I was going to marry was coming back into
my life. This was discouraging because I
couldn’t think of anyone that I knew that I
would want to marry.
In July we had a family reunion in
Myrtle Beach, (I didn’t know Meher Baba
at this time,) and all twenty-two ofus were
together. My brother gave me a note from
Rob with his name and phone number on
it. I knew then that he was the one coming
back into mylife. Rob and I trace our spintual connection to that Sunday in May. He
had been sitting at his table in L.A. having
coffee and started thinking about me. We
hadn’t had any contact for twenty years. He
played the records we use to listen to and
knew he had to contact me. He looked my
brother up in the actor’s guide and sent him
that note.
Things then moved quickly. Rob came
to Atlanta in August, I went to LA in
October, and we were married December
29th 1979 in Atlanta, all seven children were

in our wedding, and we began our blended
family.
Rob had searched his whole life for a per—
sonal God, and had studied many paths and
all religions. When Tom Flickey suggested
he give Meher Baba a try his search was
over. During a meditation one day Rob was
given the words “Baba Baba Everywhere”.
He quickly wrote them all down and spent
the next two years working towards publishing it.

Announc€men/c €offtrnuedframp )_
>.
::
.:::

Upcoming SouthEast Gathering
Set aside April 10-13 for the SouthEast
Gathering for Meher Baba! It will be held
Thursday thru Sunday, April 10 13, 2003.
Our long-time location is outside ofAthens,
Georgia, and by mid-April, chances are it
will be nice and warm. By the time you read
this our guests will be on board and we’ll be
getting ready for registration. Look for more
information on the BabaList, and if you’d
like a flyer, please contact Judi Schoeck:
-

thejoodster@ae.net.
Baba Art and Photos
Tony Howell in England has made available some beautiftil photos of Meherabad
and some Baba artwork for you to use as
wallpaper on your computer desktop. The
photos come with full instructions as to how
to install: i’wwtonyhoweI1.co.ukwailpapei,

meherazad.htm
New Baba Book in Progress
Volume II of The Heart Chronicles is
in progress. Again, it is to be a compila
tion of stories from lovers of our Beloved
Meher Baba.
The Heart Chronicles, Centering is to
be published by Love Street Press, as was
the first volume. It will be a collection of
stories of lovers of Meher Baba who have
traveled to one of the major Baba centers
around the world and want to share the

Jim Hastings translated the
words into Hindi (they also
appear on the pages) and then
Rob asked children the world
over to submit drawings to
match the verses.
Last July Rob entered the
emergency room with severe
pain below his clavicle. He
was in the hospital for two
weeks during which he underwent numerous tests. He was
released at the end ofJune, but
unbeknownst to them he had contracted a
staf infection. While in the hospital four
doctors thought he had cancer. They performed surgery and removed a cist pressing
on a nerve in his back. This alleviated the
excruciating pain, but five days after he came
home he was getting progressively worse.
On our return trip to the emergency room
he was placed in ICU. He was in there for
ten days and passed on to Baba August 20th.

It was the staf infection that got him. He
never had cancer.
Rob had definitely been ready to go to
Baba. One morning I came in and he told
me that Baba had walked around his bed
the previous night, and held his face. Baba
told him It would be a little while longer”.
I asked Rob if Baba was smiling, he said,
“No, but he had a very compassionate look
on His face.”
Upon being told of his passing, Bhau
said, “In Rob’s next lifetime he will be born
into a very close Baba family because of his
work on Baba Baba Everywhere.”The fam
ily that Rob left behind in this lifetime are
myself and his seven loving children. He
raised my five children, along with his own,
and we have six grand children.

experience of their visit. (Meher Spiritual
Center, Myrtle Beach; Avatar’s Abode Aus
tralia; Meherabad, India. Ifyou have been to
Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai or others of
the Indian Centers, these count too.)
As with Vol. I, all profit from the sale of
Vol. II will go to the Avatar Meher Baba
Perpetual Public Charitable Trust. Dma
Snow will present a check for $ 1,000 to The
Meher English School this Amartithi as a

with the city and could not guarantee us
the theater. But now they say it should be
signed soon so we have reserved the theater
for August 2003 which is the earliest we
could get it. If again it does not get signed
at least 6 months in advance ofour opening
we will get another theater. We have to make
sure the theater is guaranteed to us before
we spend a lot of money on the advertising
of the movie which starts about 4 months
or more prior to the Premier.
In addition, at the end of this year or
next, the video tape of the movie will have
a limited early release in order to raise addi
tional funds to carry out the promotion and
distribution of the movie to theaters.
All those who can donate $100 will re
ceive a gift of a first edition collectors item
of the video tape of the movie. Also a first
edition certificate of authenticity will be
included with each video tape.
The video tape is the complete movie as it
will be seen in theaters. lhr 20mm running
time. In addition a poster of the movie will
be sent with each donation.
Ifyou have not already ordered the Movie
on Video Tape and would like to do so then
mail your check or money order for $ 100.00
payable to:
Oceanpower Film Distributor, Inc.,
1130 Waterway Lane, Myrtle Beach,
SC 29572 USA. Phone: 843-272-8524
email: OPFD@yahoo.com; website:

gift from the sales of The Heart Chronicles,
Discovering Divine Love.
Please click on http://heartclironicles.

comHeartChronicles/index.asp for details
on how to submit your story and for further
information about this project.
In writing about your experiences to one
of the Meher Baba Centers, you will find
yourself drawn back to your personal time
oflove and closeness with Baba and it will
give you an opportunity to share that joy
with others.
You may contact Tern Zee for further
information at: Zee2@airmail.net
If you would like to order VoL I of The
Heart Chronicles, you may do so by contacting: Dma Snow at Bababook@pacbell.net

Movie Premier
From Irwin Lucic The Movie MeherBaba,
Avatar Of TheAge is scheduled to premier
in August 2003 at The Palace of Fine Arts
theater in San Francisco. It was not possible
to do it this year as the theater informed us
that they were unable to sign a new lease

“

AvatarOfTheAge.com
43

JJQfl

JJ

tO :j;::?:

What is to Come Continuedfrornpg37

en Ei3uggia —Australia/Ctilifornia
have noticed that Baba lovers are divided
on the issue of ‘to show or not to show’
when it comes to wearing His photo. Some
wear it on a pendant under their shirt, close
to their heart, hidden from the outside world,
but me—I like to have Baba right out there
on display!
It all started over 20 years
ago when Delia De Leon
made a point of telling
me, most seriously,
that Baba told her
He wanted as
many people as
possible to hear
His name. I al
ways remembered
her saying this,
and I immediately
took it that she was
passing down an order,
and touching on something very important from
Baba to me.
I quickly discovered that wearing two
prominent earrings with Baba’s face on them
gave me the wonderful opportunity to say
His name to people, as many ofthem would
inevitably ask “Who’s that on your earrings?”
I would say “Meher Baba”, and sometimes
they wouldjust gaze, often smile, or say “Oh,
the don’t worry be happy guy!”
Once in 1985, while sitting in a United
States Immigration medical office an el
derly, foreign and rather scared looking
man started staring intently at one of my
earrings. Slowly he got up from his chair and
came toward me, still crouched over and still
staring blatantly. He got tojust inches away
from my face, all the while staring intently
at Baba on my ear. Suddenly his face gave
way to a huge grin and he said very loudly
“Meher Baba!” He couldn’t speak English,
but I could see that he, who had looked a
sour old man not five minutes ago, was now
transformed into one happy fella. He and
his family started chattering away happily in
their own language and smiling at me. The
only words I could understand them saying
were Baba and Ahmednagar.
At first I was quite shy about saying Baba’s
name, but nowadays I wear a very prominent
Baba necklace and work in an Irish pub. I
am constantly asked “Who’s that around
your neck?” My standard answer is usually
something like “He is my spiritual Master,

I

44

Meher Baba” and iftheylooklike they wish
they hadn’t asked, I usually break the embarrassment by saying with a laugh.. “He’s a
good bloke to have hanging around!!”
A couple ofweeks ago, some really scruffy
young people came in to the pub and asked
‘The Question’. When I said His
name, one smiled and said “Jai
Baba” and with his hands
in the ‘namaste’ position,
took darshan from my
necklace by placing
his forehead on it.
A second boy also
said “Right on, Jai
Baba!” and gave
me the thumbs up
sign. I have no idea
who they were and
in the moment there
was no reason to ask.
During a recent professional photo session, the
photographers’ wife came into
the room unexpectedly and ran over
to me exclaiming. “Is that Meher Baba?”.
When I said yes, this woman, whom I
hadn’t even been introduced to, grabs my
necklace and kisses it with fervour, much to
her husband’s and my surprise. She smiled
and said “I was one of the first disciples of
Meher Baba!” Again, we don’t speak of the
incident...it was just totally understood....
One of my regular pub customers who
drinks way too much, constantly asks me
“Wot’s the name o’ that fella ‘round ya
neck?”; and again the next night says to me,
“what’s that guy’s name again?” She repeats
Baba’s name over and over, to get it right!
Maybe she’s looking for the Real wine?
It may be silly of me, but I feel that perhaps wearing that beautiftul necklace with
Baba’s darling face so prominently displayed
is my real job in working at a ‘wine shop’.
In any case it’s the part of the job that I
like best!
However you choose to share Baba with
the world, or not, is between you and the
Beloved. “Jai Meher Baba”!! (said loudly and
confidently!)
.

. . .

through inert matter pulsing waves of awak
ening sound. And lo! Matter also dances, ap
peanng as a gloryround about Him. Dancing,
He sustains its manifold phenomena. In the
fluliness oftime, still dancing, He destroys all
forms by fire and gives new rest.
In the above three scenarios I have tried
to show that Baba has given us indications
ofeach ofthese three possibilities ofwhat is
to come. And there may be others. I invite
readers to send them in to this magazine, but
backing them up by statements from Baba.
I also invite readers to select which one of
these three seems most likely to them, and
to explain why.
So Baba has given us answers to the ques
tion of”How will it all end?” In His Avataric
way, the answers given are widely divergent,
so that we can not comfortably settle into any
one known outcome (although comfortwould
hardly be the appropriate word to describe
the Mahapralya outcome). In these scenarios,
given or at least suggested to us by Baba, we
have a great benefit in Him sharing with us
His Avataric omniscience in regard to the deep
nature ofthe cosmos. We are most fortunate
in this, as is the case with our knowledge of
Baba Himself But, as we have come to find,
that does notlet us fall into complacency We
continue to share with the rest of”the suffering humanity” a continuing deep uncertainty
about what is to come. But Baba gives us His
assurance that any such uncertainty should not
prevent us from being happy.
Discourses, .
1
Discourses, .
pp 189299 2
p
270 3
p
191. 4
MeherBabaJournal: V.1, No. 3,Jan. 1939,
V. XII, pp 4202-4203. Civilization
pp 84-85. 5
or €haos, pp 88-89. 7
The Dance ofShiva, p. 78.

oefr•

rJ?UØC

Caress
5ightings (I)
I saw you in the north country
When you came there
With your companions.
Yes, you walked past the place where I sat
And, though I asked for nothing
You offered your gift of prasad
But my hands were fttll
And you passed on by.

Each leafcascades to the earth
in a bold Dervish Dance,
spinning with reckless abandon.
To the observer it appears
each dances alone,
yet in my heart
I see Your breath
caressing every one.
Shar Wiseman, Virginia

You were there at the gathering by
the holy rivers
With your helpers,
Discoursing and pouring sweet sherbet
To slake the thirst of your lovers
But my vesselwas already ftill
With what I ctrried with me.

So now I retrace my steps,
Discarding all I held on to;
Emptying containers,
Making space,
Breathing in your name,
Hoping and longing for you
To pass this way.
Sarah McNeili, England

First in the city crowd
Among the shouts and movement
of a hundred people
I saw you approaching from the distance;
I recognised the swift stride
That set you visibly ahead
Of those companions;
Your outline was clear
Yourjacket faded pink like
the morning sky.
I know it was you.
A long time passed.
Then I saw you again, at the station;
I touched your sleeve, yes,
Crushed in among the surge of
travellers that swept past you
As you boarded the train,
I stretched out and touched your sleeve.
And I know you knew it was me.

And it must have been you
On the train, travelling with friends;
I must have been so near to you!
But I had baggage for the journey.
I watched all the time to see
nothing was taken,
And thenjust glimpsed the light
ofyour brow
After I’d descended
And counted all my pieces
And looked up
As the train moved off.
At last I came to your abode
And you appeared there with
your close ones,
Pouring out love.
And I saw how open hearts
were filled to overflowing.

5ightings (2)

But years went by
Till one night,
In the garden,
0 Beloved the light ofyour face
in the darkness,
The lucent white clothing,
Your presence making my senses reel.
-

13ut Who Am 3
who am I
that You should be so sweet
stand by me
watch me sleep
but who am I
that You should call me here
touch my hand
hold me near
but who am I
that You should fill my heart
promise me that we
will never part

Do not despair at whatever circumstance
Keeps you apart from the Beloved
And from those who play in his courtyard.
Take hold of his garment.
Clasp the hem with both hands as he
strides on so swiftly
are
swept off our feet and
We
fly behind him!
The jolts and sudden turnings of this
breathless passage
Never will dislodge our hold
Even though it seems our feet do barely
touch the ground.
Sarah McNeil, England

just who am I
that I should know Your name
I don’t know
but please, please stay
MargaretJames, Oregon

45

...R4h..L.1..IOflS
.

S

unita, Gurjari, Sundari and Geeta are
women from unknown tribes who had
been living in backward areas of Gujarat.
They make a meager subsistence by selling
handmade articles. Mirrorwork has always
been their specialty. It is this skill which is
helping them to survive the scars that life
has thrust upon them. Uprooted from their
homeland, these illiterate women have come
to Mumbai to survive. They would not have
come out oftheir homes, had it not been for
the earthquake last January. (2001).
Life can always be rough for some people.
But when it brings unforeseen natural trag—
edies like a devastating earthquake it shakes
one’s very existence. At 8.15 a.m on 26th
J anuary 2001 a massive earthquake struck
the region of Gujarat, Western India with
its epicenter in the Bhuj district. On the
Richter scale it measured 7.5, which made
the Pompeii tragedylookvery small. People
were on their way to celebrate the Republic
Day. While numerous tragic stories unfold—
ed, some sad stories seem never ending. Here
is one that tells a tale oflost relationships,
being uprooted, and finding bearings in
other States to make both ends meet.
And this is why Mehera Mirror works
was created. As Mehera would have wanted
to help distressed souls and fellow women,
here in lies the story behind the beautiful
cloths, some ofwhich are pictured here, that
you may want to buy to adorn your house.

Santacruz west, Mumbai
The famed Juhu Garden opposite the
police station has a wrought-iron wall.
Displayed against this wall are colored,
hand embroidered bed sheets. There are
also very bright wall hangings, table cloths,

Of ‘.1 BrOk:fl
..

21iveditn Sharma, Dndia

runners, and bags with mirror work done on
them. Near a banyan tree a makeshift temple
has been made. Traffic whizzes past and a
lady motorist risks the traffic light to ask a
woman the price ofa Ganesha wall hanging.
The price is not suitable so the lady rides
away. But a couple walking in the opposite
direction try to haggle for a better price with
the woman. This woman is Geeta.
Geeta is a 44 year-old woman who has set
up her shop here by the wall. She says “Take
this piece sir, it is very cheap.”The couple buy
the piece and the woman is happy. She says
“You have no idea how I manage. I have to
stay close to the police station. My husband
has been missing for a long time. I came to
Mumbai in search
of him after the
earthquake. I have
lost my family. I go
to the police station
in the hope that they
will be able to locate
my husband. He too
may have come to the
city to sell clothes. I
have been here for
many months now.”
But Geeta has not yet
found her husband.

.

..

Geeta pours out her tale to me, but at the
same time she smiles at prospective buyers
for her wares. She succeeds in selling some
pieces ofwall hangings—long mirror work
strips and a few bags—during the course
of the day. For many years their nameless
tribe has been in this business. Some of her
relatives are still living in Bhuj and Anjar.
They make the embroidered pieces and
Geeta comes all the way to sell the pieces
in Mumbai. Why this city only? She says,
“In Mumbai many people buy such stuff.
Lots offoreigners buy our wares. They give
us good prices. Also Mumbai is closer than
Delhi. I can afford the bus ticket to this city”
Not all these people have come to Mumbai.
Some have gone to Jaipur Delhi, and Agra.
The ones with relatives have traveled as far
as Kolkatta also.
Geeta laments “We became homeless
after the earthquake. No one came to help
us. We make sales like this to make ends
meet.” Other women like her share Geeta’s
gypsylife. Her sister-in-law Sunita is sitting
near a tree with her mother. With another
customer she succeeds in making her sale.
Geeta sits with her seven year old daughter
under a tree waiting for the next sale. She
makes a trip to the police station nearby to
find the whereabouts of her husband.
The wall hangings, strips, bags and bed
sheets cost anything from 200 to 850 ru
pees. The prices are negotiable. Mostly the
women do the selling. The men keep watch
over the bundles of cloth in which several
pieces are packed. They do not talk to the
strangers or haggle over the prices. At the
end of the day they pack their belongings
and disappear until the next day. The same
happens with Geeta. Heart broken, she is
stilllooking for herlost husband. Only God
knows if she will ever find him.
Life goes on. Maybe the will to survive
has been stronger than anything else for this
woman. Thousands ofGeetas live their lives
like this in India.
[TheLove StreetBookstore thanks Nivedita
for heiping these women as she has. We bought
a large quantity oftheirMirror Works, most of
which weresnappedup atthe Oklahoma Gath
ering andalso the LA Sahavas but we do have
a dozen or sopieces left. Check our website to see
them inflill color:
www.lovestreethookstore.com]

c:t)

0
w

JA

d w i d e }‘iehcr EBnbt A4ethngs

T

he following is information about the various
Baba groups around the country and a few
from overseas. Having received many requests for
just such information,I thoughtitwouMbe helpfiul
to include it in every issue. Ifyour local data is not
included please send it to me and should things
change from the published details, please let me
know that before the next issue’s deadline.
—Dma

&uthem California
,i:o ..J1ngeles
Meetings every Sunday at 4pm held in our Center
“Meherabode,” phone: 323-731-3737
1214 South Van Ness Aye,
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(Just East ofthe intersection ofArlington and 12th
Street.)
The Avatar Meher Baba Center of Los Angeles
now has its own web site at
wwwMeherabode.org to bring the local news,
programs, activities and announcements to the
Baba community and the public.

A4exico
Rafael Villafane
Home, dialed from US:
01152555295-0512
Cell, dialed from US:
01152555502-7225
Email is best as I travel alot:
raal@royerlabs.com
we have meetings about every month, in Mexico
City at 7pm. No particular day, people on the
list are contacted prior to the meeting, email addresses are preferred. I am also found in Cancun
or Acapulco at times, so email me ifyou will be
in those areas.